First Ascended Legacies
by fanfictionPenguin
Summary: As the appearance of a new type Grimm make their fall upon Remnant, Jaune will find his eyes set upon the shrouded darkness that encloaks the kingdoms and cities. The lies and suffering of corruption and chaos that run rampant. Gather everyone you can..! Your enemies, your friends, family! What will it take to reach truth?
1. The Legacies Left Behind

**The Legacies Left Behind**

_Upon the grassy cliff rests dozens of tents scattered across the terrain with only one issue at its hand. Where none are alive to make it a lively denizen. Crimson liquid murks the scarlet-dyed grass, as if the storm had brought a different kind of tear in its passing._

_ Down the edge of the cliff where the wall is dead of life, only to reveal its rocky edges, march Grimms of millions. Of dark birds that are easily capable of blocking the sun out of the sky, coasting across the hazel dark skies. Beowolves to the Deathstalkers to the millions of others that hide from records of Humanity, they trample the grassless surface of Remnant to leave the misty air composed of dirt._

_ Beneath them rests the bones of those who have fallen. Bones to carcasses that loiter around, weapons that rest away into the soil for eternity or stabbed into the surface to impose as a gravestone._

_ They all stop in their movement of downfall, avian Grimm reducing the pace of their flapping wings and those on the ground turning their head all in unison. Upon that cliff's edge stands a knight in white armor, a gold scarf wrapped around the necking that bristled amongst the rugged terrain's winds, white shield and sword propped infront of them, imposed as a cane for them with two lunar cresent arcs as its symbol. Their helmet on and armor fit in place, the white knight's gauntlet lifts the sword and shield, the shield unfolding into what seemed to be a sheath that held the mighty blade._

_ A foot hovers just off the edge until it descends, causing the knight to lean and fall forward. Instead, gravity seems to uphold its laws as they walk down the wall clamly, their manner composed as they advance. As if they were patient, the monsters of Grimm stop to turn and face the lone wolf._

_ The knight reached the bottom, sheathed sword clasped to their waist belt and scarf smacking against the current. From the army of the darkest of shadows, five silhouette creatures in the appearance of scorpions depart from the main body and engage the character. Sizes beyond the normal scaling of an adult elephant, perhaps two elephants would do its size. Their golden stingers arched in the direction of the knight, their legs quake Remnant in their approach. The lone figure merely stood in their place, still as they are being a statue._

_ The golden scarf loses its animation, the wind dying away as the material falls flat against the back of the knight's white armor…_

_ A white dot floats down from the skies. The knight craned their neck slightly to look up to this falling dot, holding out their palm and watching it fall. Gently falling onto the knight's hand, it remained, denying to vanish as it rested in the knight's cradling palm. Its white intricate lines connecting into patterns until meeting the outer ring. Fingers curled around the flake, the knight looked up to the skies._

_It begun to snow._

_ Circles within the sky begin to appear, initiating as small circles of dots to the expansion of massive glyphs with complex symbols and lines drawn into them, filling the entire sky above the knight in bright energy. Hexagons quickly drew across the air, outerlining the circles of glyphs. Beams of light begin to shine down unto the approaching Grimm, completely covering them in its narrowing light until disintegrating into nothing but mere dust._

_ A hand clapped against the knight's shoulder pauldron, the knight continuing to gaze to the skies as a smaller figure walked by them. In white attire along with her off-set ponytail hair and snow-white eyes, she donned a tailcoat that reached down to the back of her knees, cerulean shoulder cape, royal combat heels of glass snow and intricately detailed dress and skirt of snow-pattern linings, the pale-skin woman gazes out to the dark horizon. With a swish of her hand across the air, a vein of white sprouts from her palm and across the air in a linear shape that eventually expanded into a rapier-akin weapon, also wrapping around her feeble arms were light gauntlets of her own with the symbol of a snowflake on the back of its hand._

_ The battleground became an arena, the audience being the Grimm that stood idly by or afloat in the skies with the white knight. The woman's pearlscent eyes dart to the side, the butt of the rapier swinging upwards promptly and meeting the bottom jaw of a beowolf, forcing its mouth shut as another came from the other end. Before removing the butt of the hilt to counterattack the second beowolf, her delicate pale fingers wrapped around the hit beowolf's jaw joint and forced it around her. With a swift motion and use of momentum, her Grimm projectile was launched against the other one, but this time, with a red glyph embedded on its chest. A violent hue glew from the glyph before causing the two Grimm to explode into flames, becoming nothing but charred pieces of its black essence._

_ Her heel kicking off the ground, she dances across the battlefield, avoiding the two golden stingers that had jabbed themselves into her former location. The Deathstalkers retract their stingers, quickly realigning themselves to face their prey and marched again, their stingers lunging once again. She raises her blade once again, its slim blade reflecting the side of the stinger, causing it to fly off course as she sidestepped to avoid the second one. Within momentum of her sidestep, she pushes off to the side and spins, her motion of dancing following the edge of her weapon as it draws a white line across the air, tracing its pathway. Quickly, her blade severed the stingers from their joints, causing the Deathstalkers to retract until she bowed forward at the end of her dance, acting as if she were giving an air-kiss, only to freeze the Deathstalkers in their positions._

_ The woman turned around, this session of her battle ending as it is while the frozen Grimm shattered into pieces. The white orbs of the woman widening, her head turns to face the destruction to see a massive fist of a twenty foot ape-like Grimm wearing a bone mask being sent to smash into her._

_ The fist made contact, but only for the ape to realize its fist had hit an unintended target._

_ The golden scarf of the knight lightly brushes against the wind once again, the knight covered in snow. They open their hand from which the snowflake had landed into, only to let go of a red rose petal as it flew into the wind._

_ Standing between the fist and white woman, there intercepted a woman who donned blackest of the reaper's mantle that was sown into a dark frilly skirt, shirt and a red cape. Palm stretched out to stop the blunt force that would've been done by the ape. The reaper's silver orbs gaze into the red eyes behind the mask. Her other hand raises to her hood, taking it off as the material morphed into a massive mechanical shift of a pole. Both ends of the pole quickly unclasp its hinges, one end becoming the curving line of a scythe's weapon and the other being a longsword capable of retracting and being extracted. The reaper spun her scythe, generating torrents of wind, and turned on her heel of her boot to trail into a semi-circle, one passing of her windmill going through the wrist of the massive Grimm. With a promptly loud thump of the Grimm's entire hand, the woman glared and vanished into a cloud of roses in her wake. The momentum of her windmill continuing as she zipped around the Grimm's arm in a blur of a motion until reaching its head._

_ It begins to fall unto its knees, its bare sharp teeth reflecting the skylight until it broke apart into nothing but meaty blocks meeting the ground and sinking. The reaper turned around, facing the white knight and the woman of snow. Receiving a response from the one she had protected, it was a brief nod._

_ A motion of the pearlscent woman's hands danced across the air, making multitudes of glyphs around the reaper, whom was currently walking towards the entire army of Grimm. The longsword extracts from its lock at the bottom of her scythe with a loud 'shink'. Her body leaned forward, breaking into an instant dash. The opposing army replied with their own dash of beowolves and boarbatusks, the front lines jumping into the air and the others maintaining ground to encircle the red death._

_ She flicked the weight of her sword-scythe to her other palm, utilizing the swing into a full revolution as her arm swipes diagonally through the space. A cyclone of flames burst around her in response, disintegrating her surrounders. Still, they continue their pursuit as she swings her weapon from all directions. Her scythe piercing through a chest of a boarbatusk and angling the weapon to level the side of the scythe's blade to the ground. Pressuring her strength in acceleration, the Grimm's carcass became encased in ice._

_ From the distance, the glyph caster clapped her hands together audibly as the glyphs around the reaper brighten. The scratches to full-bashes the reaper landed on each Grimm, the ice had become contagious, slowly expanding from their wounds until they were completely encased and continued like an infection. The mist of ice shards filling the air around, a portion of the battlefield became the land of ice. _

_ The tip of the reaper's scythe tapped against the cold solid ground, causing the ice beneath it to slowly crack and spread apart. One second. Two seconds. To the hundreds of figures turned to ice statues, they shatter into a cold mist that blends with the gusts of wind from the battle. A huff exhausts itself from the two females as they glance to the remaining thousands or millions of Grimm left._

_ A sound of metal gently clanging against metal was heard, coming from the White Knight that now stood infront of them. Sword propped as a cane as they keep their composure, raising a hand to motion the two fighters to take a break. Their eyes trail onto the scarf the knight had worn, watching as an aura trickled off the material in forms of small flames._

_ Explosions of fire erupt in the distance, stretching from the western edge within the horde of Grimm all the way to the eastern in a matter of seconds. As the Grimm turn away to face their new foe. The cracking of knuckles sounded from the middle, fire sprouting from her fists and the outline of her body as a long-haired blonde entered a brawler's stance. Eyes glowing with a crimson tint, she wore brown gold-detailed boots that ran up to her mid-calf, shorts that elevated just above her knee, a longcoat with flame designs at the bottom end of it, as the bracelets around her wrists enlargened, plates unfolding from inside as it expanded out to cover her hands with gold-embroidered gauntlets._

_ '__Revving' up her fists for a battle, steam exhausts from the knuckles. A Nevermore descended down from the skies, perching its talons into the ground infront of her. Its beak gapping into open as it screeched a high-pitched scream. The blonde brawler's fists grasped the feathers beneath the avian's neck and yanked it, forcing it completely to succumb to the ground. Raising her leg, she sent her own gauntlet to smash against the heel. The gauntlet promptly changed mechanisms, unfolding from around her fist and transferred itself to her foot to become blunt hammer-ended greaves. A battle-ready foot curb-stomping into it, steam hissed dangerously from the bottom sole until the reknowned durability of a Nevermore's beak had shattered._

_ The remaining gauntleted fist shot out to her side, immediately finding grip around a beowolf's throat. Her eyes examined the victim until smashing the beowolf into the ground and set it entire aflame. Within a flick of the expunging flame, the former beowolf had been smithed to become a shard of a bone-mask._

_ As night begins to fall, the light will fade away and the darkness will rise. The brawler's eyes peer up to a full moon that lights the way. Soon, the moon is covered by the fleet of avian Grimm that fill the air…_

_ Gray arcs streak across the darkest of nights, the fleet giving way as pieces begun to descend of divided Grimm. Landing onto the ground adjacent from the brawler, ears of a cat and golden feline eyes peer up to her enemies. Long, straightened pitch-black hair that blends in with her dark tattered trenchcoat. Strapped to her side, a magnum wrapped with a coiling black ribbon. At the opposite end of the ribbon; a katana that enshrouds itself with the shadows. Magnum poised to her front, aimed at the thousands of Grimm that wait…_

_The end is nigh._

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><p><strong>Still developing, still going. Just asking for some feedback or some sort before I post the next chapter in one or two days. [ 121 - 1/22 ]**

** Who knows? Maybe if I get uh. Five favorites or follows in total, I'll post a longer chapter for the next one if it satisfies you. Quack. But hey, you guys have fun and all that. Oh, and yes, the artwork I've done isn't well-done, so I'm probably going to go ahead and... quack... look for something to compensate for that. [ Unless you guys love it, then there's no reason for me to flip my *beep*ing flippers over it then. ]**

** That's enough of me, fanfictionPenguin aborting thread.**


	2. A Weekend Field Trip

_'__Bzz… Bzzz… Bzzz.'_

He heard himself groan as his face continued to burrow into the pillow, arms buried under it as he sighed, "Ohmydustsomeonekillitwithfire."

Thankfully, someone did. Though, without the fire or killing. A hand gently clapped over Jaune's shoulder, nudging him in attempts to wake him up, "Jaune, it's time to wake up. It's the weekend, so don't spend the entire day just sleeping. Besides, we have training in an hour or so."

"Hnngh. Can we do it tomorroooow? I'm reeeeallllly tired." The blonde swordsman rolled over on his bed, his ocean eyes peering up to the red-haired partner of his. "Pleeeeease, Pyrrha?" He whined, rubbing his eyes with his palms.

She rolled her eyes, chuckling while she held her leader's face within her soft hands. "No. What if Nora eats all the pancakes without us?"

"Then you go ahead and…" Mid-yawn. "… eat without me."

"No. As your friend and partner, I'm commanding you to get up."

"But mooooom—"

"No buts."

"Hnngh… let go of my face."

"Not unless you get up."

He swore, this was either 'get up or I'm going to kill you' thing from Pyrrha, otherwise it's 'Okay, I'm going to force you up. Get ready.' kind of thing. Blinking several times to get the blurriness out of his eyes, the entrancing emerald eyes stared into his. Jaune's hands gently grasped around her wrists before sliding down and feeling the soft texture of her hands. It didn't feel that bad now that he's thinking about it. In his head, he smirked and decided to play a bit.

"Wellllll," He started off with an abrupt yawn, "I could just… sleep like this. Your hands are softer than my pillow." Despite all of her fighting too. Jaune shut his eyes, a playful smile plastered on his face. That expression turned into a near-frown however, his eyebrows burrowing for a moment. The temperature within the room slightly increased, or was it just him? It wasn't the hands he felt—eyes shooting open, he noticed his Amazon partner's reddened face. Worried, he sat up and pressed the back of his palm against her cheek and forehead, "H-hey, what's wrong? Do you suddenly feel sick?" His playful smile was shot down into an immediate frown in the concern of his partner.

"I-I'm fine!" Pyrrha backed away, her hands unweaving from around his cheeks. "I-I'll w-wait here while you go get changed. H-hurry up! W-well get going!" Her hands whisked him away, to the bathroom door.

"Okay, okay! Calm down!" He chuckled, being sent off to the bathroom with a 'click' being left as he closed the door.

The sigh of relief expelled from the Amazon's mouth, wiping the sweat drop coming down the temple of her head. She sat herself down on her partner's bed, straightening her legs in a strain, stopping when she felt herself frowning and glaring at the floor beneath her…

Pyrrha Nikos, the girl who's said to be invincible, couldn't exactly manage her emotions when it came to one dorky knight that was her partner. Why was it that she couldn't get herself over these emotions and keep her relationship between her and her partner as close friends? There shouldn't be a problem to that… should there? It felt as if her mental state was constantly fighting itself, demanding to take prize of what should be claimed as hers, but at the same time unwilling to harm her friendship.

"Pyrrha?"

Then again, what if she DOES break from a pitiful fact that she can't seem to keep it restrai—

"Pyrrha!"

She snaps out of her thoughts, glancing up to the blue orbs that stare down on hers, "O-oh, sorry Jaune." The blonde boy standing in a black t-shirt hoodie and dark faded jeans gives her a concerned look, "Something wrong?" He asked curiously. 'Crap. Uh…' Her mouth becomes slightly agape, trying to think of words to spurt out, "Well… you see… I uh…" Her eyes dart side to side of the room's corners wildly.

Her eyes didn't help for sure… but her hands did when they felt the soft fur-like texture of the blanket.

"I was… thinking about getting a onesie like yours!"

_'__Great thinking. Now he's going to think you're weird—'_

"Oh! Wow uh, really?" The boy seemed to be taken aback, blinking several times. Confusion mostly consumed in his expression as he continued, "That sounds… neat? I mean… y-you'd look great in one in my opinion… and… wow. Just wow."

Mentally, she was facepalming herself to a point that the red shade was clearly visible from all the smacking.

In reality, she was a hardcore pokerfacer, "L-let's go eat. Everyone's waiting for us by now." Pyrrha stands up from the bed, flattening the uneven surface of where she was sitting on originally. With a turn of her heel, she strode to the door and propped it open to step outside, gesturing for Jaune to snap out of his confused state and hurry. The blonde shook his head, blinking out of his thoughts. He nods promptly, jogging to catch up and shut the door behind him when they left for the cafeteria.

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><p>Jaune and Pyrrha found themselves in a strange predicament. Both standing at the dining room's entrance, their dumbfounded expressions was focused on various things. One, Cardin was running around the cafeteria in circles with a trashcan stuck at the upper-half of his body, being completely oblivious to other students as they ate while he screamed for mercy. ( -or was he screaming for something else? )<p>

Two, a hyperactive orange-haired member of team JNPR, Nora Valkryie, is chasing Cardin Winchester while carrying an armful of potatoes. Throwing them like baseballs—well, actually they're going to be baseballs now judging by all the dents they're leaving when hitting the trashcan—and having a bolstering amount of fun by her level of laughter filling the room while singing 'I'm queen of the castle'.

Three, a green-clothed Asian with black hair and a pink highlight, the back of his hair tied into a ponytail, was chasing after Nora, holding out his arms and flailing them as he tried to catch his partner. Rather than seeming horrified or having fun, his expression was kept stoic at all times. There's no telling what was on his mind at this point. Otherwise he'd just be over it at this point and not care.

Four, team RWBY was casually sitting at their usual spots that was just across the table from JNPR's seats. Yang had been clutching onto her stomach, head banged onto the table and her other hand slamming against the surface wildly, laughing so hard that it filled the entire cafeteria with no one minding at all. Blake's golden eyes were twitching as she tried to read a book. (Which was secretly known as 'Ninjas of Love' from one time when the black cover slid off on accident and then was pointed out by Nora.) Jaune blinked, wondering if her bow just twitched or not. Weiss seemed angry, scowling and scolding her younger partner, pointing her hands constantly at the napkin with arrows and circles drawn all over it. Then Ruby Rose, the team leader of RWBY in clad red. She had a saddened face, looking down at the napkin her partner was scolding her about, almost as if she were a kid being told by an angry parent. Jaune and Pyrrha exchange glances, nodding as they walked to the lines, then their spots.

"—dunce! You don't draw out an entire layout of attack when a seriously hyper girl asks for it! You'll get us all in trouble!" Weiss continued, glaring at Ruby.

"Morning to you too." Pyrrha sat down with the blonde, their trays being filled with food. Team RWBY looked up to greet them properly, the Y of the team incapable of doing so because of hysterical laughter. "Hey." They responded in unison despite the background noises of dishes clattering loudly and explosions. "So… what happened exactly?" The blonde leader of JNPR sweatdropped, glancing to the current situation with Nora and Cardin. Weiss was the first to reply, the residue of her glare lingering in her eyes , causing the red-cloaked leader to squeak and lower her head even deeper in disappointment, "Ruby decided to give Nora a strategy how to beat up Cardin with potatoes, then break his legs." Her finger points to the blueprint napkin infront of Ruby.

"It… It can't be that bad, can it?" Jaune asked, unaware that within the napkin was—

Weiss unfolded the napkin to reveal hundreds of tiny scribbled words in red ink all over the material, written with steps under the title underlined:

'Plan #835: Beat Cardin with Potatoes'

Dammit, Ruby.

* * *

><p>Nora was the last one left behind in the cafeteria to clean up her entire mess of mashed potatoes, happily cleaning it with… more food. Her logic followed that she could clean up the markings by smashing it with watermelons or destroy them from existence. You probably don't want to know how that works. Actually, you don't, you just don't.<p>

The rest of team JNPR was making their way out to the courtyards with RWBY since it was the weekend, they wanted to make plans to take a break from all the classes and off the academy campus for a while. Yang glanced over to Ren, elbowing him, "Psst, Ren, you know how long Nora's going to be in there?"

"Don't do that. Also, I don't know. All I can guess is that she's going to take… a loooong time." The Asian replied, rubbing the arm Yang had elbowed.

"—watch clouds or head out into the city to look for something to do." The blonde leader insisted, scratching the back of his head in thought as to how to spend the weekend. He's never taken into account of how to manage his time freely, since most of the time it was taken up by Pyrrha's training sessions or just making up work for classes that he was somehow passing.

"Perhaps you would be interested in a task to assist Professor Port into capturing a creature of Grimm? If you weren't to mind and are willing to spend your free time to help him in doing so, I'd suppose I wouldn't mind giving extra credit to all of your core classes and with its according pay." A voice spoke up from the furthest behind of the group.

"Maybe. If there really is nothing to do out there in Vale," Jaune continued as he walked, eyes set forward, "-then we can go for it. Besides, I'd doubt that there WOULDN'T be anything to do in Vale. It was a good thought though, Ren." He stopped walking, neck craned to gaze at the sky when he noticed that the footsteps behind him had also stopped.

"That… wasn't me, Jaune."

The blonde blinked, now noticing a vast difference between Ren's and the new voice. Turning around, he found Headmaster Ozpin standing face-to-face with him, the others backed away slightly with slight surprise of his sudden appearance. Judging from his face, Jaune couldn't tell if the headmaster was smirking or raising an eyebrow from their stoic expression, "H-headmaster Ozpin! H-hey—I mean, g-good morning, sir!"

Slaps on his best 'oh my god I screwed up didn't I?' smile to the gray-haired man. The headmaster held up a hand and chuckled audibly, lessening the tension within everyone, "Don't worry, Mr. Arc, I'm not here to reprimand you for Nora's actions or the other thing you did that I'm not going to mention like the 'Pancake Incident'." Everyone's eyebrows perked up at Jaune, giving unnerving glances to the blonde as he responded with a nervous chuckle, "W-well, y-you see, uh… So about that Professor Port task?" He quickly tried to change the subject, straightening out his body from the tension again.

"Ah, yes. I overheard you all talking about spending your time doing something, debating what to do in the city. If it hasn't come to your mind yet, I ask if you could assist Professor Port in capturing a creature of Grimm. Since this is the weekend and that I do care for your productivity, I'd be willing to give you all extra credit and a pay worth if completed." The aged hunter took a sip out of a coffee mug that was being held in hand. Ozpin's dark eyes peering over the top rim of his glasses to continue eye contact with Jaune. "Nnnnnnora!" The red-head returned from cleaning the cafeteria up, glomping Ren's back. Jaune tried to think up a response for Ozpin.

"W-we w-would, but—" Weiss swatted his shoulder suddenly, causing him to 'eep' loudly and jump, earning himself a well-placed confused blink from Ozpin. Weiss took Jaune's place in speaking for the crowd,"Of course we'll accept it, Headmaster Ozpin! When should we start?" The headmaster revealed a small grin from the amusement demonstrated to him, "Professor Port's classroom in ten minutes. Good luck, and do enjoy your day."

Ozpin turned around, walking off to the library with a brief wave.

Blake glanced at Weiss, who was waving back, "What do you think you're doing? Now we have to go help out Professor Port because of you." A frown crossed the Faunus's lips while Weiss returned the glance with narrowed eyes, "Extra credit and a pay, take advantage of that! Not every mission we'll go through will have extra credit as a bonus!" Yang coiled her arm around her sister's head, pulling her in and giving her a noogie, "Great, now we can all die together!" The blonde brawler exclaimed, a playful smile potraying her sarcastic happiness.

"It can't be that bad," Pyrrha began, "It's a capture mission with a chaperone Graduated Hunter. Not like it could be any worse."

* * *

><p>"—when we use to mangle King Taijitus and throw Beowolves into eachother like bowling balls with our bare hands!" Professor Port blustered, laughing and reciting his old 'grand' memories as a young hunter. He was well prepared for this trip all right, which was basically travel gear someone would bring along into a jungle. His blunderbuss hitched on his back into a sling while they traversed through the humid forest.<p>

Ren glanced to the Amazon apart of his team, raising his knee a bit higher to step over a jutting branch, "As you were saying?" While Professor Port continuing on his venturous rambles. She sighed, rolling her eyes before doing the same, also swiping a branch out of her way, "Fine, you win. But we're still getting rewarded after this, so it's worth it." The branch that was previously swatted away by Pyrrha had come recoiling back, causing her to duck on instinct and watch it slam straight into her leader's face. She gasped, "Sorry Jaune!"

"I-it's alright…" He got up, brushing himself off, a slight cut on his cheek. Pyrrha blinked at the cut. She recalled that she unlocked Jaune's aura during their initiation, and déjà vu, the same thing's reoccurring right now. This time, his aura was unlocked, but the cut wasn't regenerating.

Too dwelled into her thoughts, she hadn't realized that the rest of the group was ahead of her when Jaune had called to her, "Pyrrha, come on! You're slowing down!" His head turned to her, awaiting for his parter to catch up. His cut was still there for some odd reason. "Y-yes, sorry." The Amazon ran up to his six, being careful to be mindful of the roots.

"Aha! Here we are, the Jugunges Plains!" The professor claimed when they had stepped over a small terrain bump. All catching their breath from keeping up, other than Nora, who was happily rambling to the breath-dying Asian. Team RWBY's leader gazed to the distance, her mouth slightly becoming agap as her eyes caught sight of the scenery, "Woooah…" She caused the rest to look up from their recovery, eyes also widening in amazement.

From the trees that made up most of the forest, the five acre wide plains of grass lushiously brushed against the breeze, their wave of color being changed from the darkest of greens to the lightest amongst the amber-leaved trees. Not too far from there, the distant mountains poking against the skies with light clouds. Above those mountains, massive chunks of earth that floated in the skies, roaming around freely as gravity played no part there.

"Enjoying the sights, my fellow students?" The professor snapped them out of their trance, laughing as he recognized those expressions, "Enjoy life as to much one can, remember the lesson well! When in my young ages, travelling became such a bore, as I remember! But now, I realize that during my time as a hunter, landscapes such as these would change my life forever when I use to despise adventuring!" Continuing with his rambling, it came to everyone's interest that this part of Port's youthed hunter life was deemed interesting to listen into. "Ooh! Ooh! Did they have lots of boom booms in places like this when the Grimm came?!" Nora flailed her arms out excitedly, being replied with a nod from Port.

Jaune's eyes kept on the horizon. Peace… this is what peace was depicted as most of the time to him. Where someone could lay down without having to worry from their problems and gaze up to the skies and ponder about getting away from all their issues… He found Pyrrha leaning against a tree, taking a break in a fetal position. Arms curled around her pulled in knees with her emerald eyes also focused on the same spot. Jaune found himself a spot next to the unsuspecting Amazon, causing her to nearly jump in freight until realizing it was only her partner. She relievingly huffed, allowing him to do so while they peacefully watched. Team RWBY, Nora and Ren also got themselves a position to sit into on the grass, somewhat marveling or questioning at the aged man's stories.

Noticing the curled tips of his lips pulled into a smile, Professor Port seemed to be incredibly… 'glad' to watch them listen in so keenly… no, that wasn't a way to put it. 'Excited'? A word Jaune will have to figure out later.

Ruby rose a hand in a wave, the red cloak fashioned over her legs like a blanket in her seat, "They had flying castles?! With cookies?!"

"Of course they had, a castle cannot be a castle without the royal cookies!"

"That's preposterous! A castle doesn't need COOKIES to be so!," Weiss reflected, her eyes burrowed together in a glare, but a rare smile put on her lips, "Otherwise all the other castles wouldn't be called castles, you twat!" She noted to Ruby, whom was currently throwing her arms around in the air to emphasize the importance of cookies.

"Clearly they had some killer clubs in floating castles, or some ba-… I mean, some really awesome pools in their backyards!" Yang rebutted, having to chuckle at her own thoughts. She glanced over to Blake, who was raising an eyebrow at her and shook her head. "What? I caught onto what I was about to say, come on!"

"Some peace and serenity, huh..?" Ren craned his neck to look up to the clouds. Nora was laying down, head on his lap to also gaze at what he was focusing on. "Ren?"

"Nora."

"Maybe we can get a flying castle of our own, or make one!" A fist punched the air towards the clouds, "It'll be awesome!"

The Asian gunslinger couldn't help but chuckle audibly, pondering on that thought. "Yes… maybe."

Professor Port eyed the clouds with them, along with Team RWBY quietly. Jaune watched from the tree he leaned against, grinning to see the bonding moment between his and their team… Maybe this mission is worth it afterall, aside from the rewards of it, something to be learned from.

He felt a weight pressing against his arm suddenly, noticing that Pyrrha fell asleep. Her head perched onto his shoulder, mouth agap by slight and eyes tightly shut, the amazon's face facing his. The blonde sucked in the bottom of his lip to keep from squeaking loudly, a red dash across his cheeks when he tried to breath calmly. He quickly sought out for something else to look at when his ears suddenly heard a 'kaching!' from nearby.

Jaune turned his head slowly to the horrifying source of it all. Yang and her scroll. "Hah! I have you now!" A mischevious smirk crossed her lips, eyebrow raised seductively as she placed on hand on her hip, "This'll be great to put on the school's newspaper cover." He paled. 'Oh dust no.' By moving, he'd risk waking up Pyrrha, which he didn't want to do at the moment due to the amount of rudeness from that considerably—

'kaching!'

The blonde swordsman glared at Yang, nearly understanding how Weiss felt when she pouted, "Yang, I swear to Monty… Ren, help me out here!" He shouted over in a hushed tone, in which Ren rose his hands into the air with Nora's head still resting on his lap. Nora simply gave a grin akin to Yang's. 'Oh not you too… Wait, Professor Port-!'

That thought was instantly shut down when he saw Professor Port applauding them, muttering something around 'Ah, the days of youth.' Blake also applauded, but was doing so absentmindedly. Ruby and Weiss weren't even paying attention, "Someone please help me-!"

'kaching!'

* * *

><p>"Are… you alright?" His partner asked, the entire group deciding that it was best to wake her up and head into the plains for any Grimm.<p>

"Y-yeah… just… a little 'issue'we had earlier." Jaune's eyes glared at Yang, who was giggling as the misfit she was at Jaune's recent predicament. He groaned mentally. Looks like he's going to be blackmailed into doing something for her again later.

It only took a few minutes for them to arrive at the edging border of the plains, the grass being high enough to reach up to their mid-calf. Blake's bow twitched, catching Jaune's attention—again. "Get back." She whispered to, the professor already acknowledging what was going on when he was steps ahead of her, lingering adjacently from a tree's shade to spectate the possible commotion in the middle of the plains.

The shadows had appeared, the creatures basked in dark essence known as Grimm with bone plates jutting out various regions of their bodies as armor… the creatures without an aura, creatures derived off negativity. Mimicking as larger versions of several animals of Remnant, it wasn't at all odd for one that has never been seen before come into existence with the appearance of a different animal…

Then why were these ones completely different?

They appeared to be bipedular, two arms lengthed down from shoulders as they stood upright straight and bones erected from their nearly every inch from their body aside from gaps that allowed them to be flexible and bend by. Full-head Grimm bone as… as…

"They're… Grimm mimicking the form of people?!" Ruby was absolutely shocked, the grip on her Crescent Rose struggling whether or not to tighten or loosen. From Port all the way to Nora, they seemed absolutely stunned as to what they were seeing. Human Grimm? Amongst the group of Grimm that roamed the plains and walking like normal people in pure-black essence basking them were more Grimm that had tails made of bone, otherwise ears or any other Faunus traits. Blake's teeth gnashed together as the sound of tensed grip over Gambol Shroud increased, "Faunus Grimm…" Her eyes became sharp as the golden eyes she wielded possessed a flame of anger.

"This is… this is entirely new. Nothing like anything I've faced before…," Professor Port admitted, his blunderbuss aimed unsteadily, "S… someone contact the headmaster immediately of this—"

A silhouette appeared directly above Professor Port's head before he could finish his sentence, the Grimm bone around the Grimm attacker 'sliding' off their pitch-black skin and molded around the arm, becoming a lance-like weapon until it begun to spin like a drill. Bringing it up, it prepared to strike down in an instant.

The sound of a metallical clang shot throughout the entire forest.

* * *

><p><strong>I told you guys I'd post another chapter up sometime today, [ 0121/2015 ] or tomorrow. I'm rather amazed, despite it only being 4 follows as I see it right now, that this thing actually got follows. [ Yay! Quack. ]**

**Chapter 3 is probably going to be posted up soon since I've miraculously had time to type it up while doing Chapter 2. Quack. After Chapter 3, I'm willing to add some kind of countdown until the post of the next Chapter to keep you guys noticed about the story being threaded through so far.**

**That's enough of me. fanfictionPenguin aborting thread.**

**Quack.**


	3. The Legacies Left Behind II

**The Legacies Left Behind II**

_The magnum had fired, unleashing a devastating tunneling force of a vortex to trail straight across the field of battle. Decimating through anything within its pull and shredding them apart. The close-quarter combatant and darkly attired character came back to back to eachother, their eyes targeting the various foes that encircle them. _

_The cloaked woman placed a hand onto the blonde's shoulder promptly, the blonde brawler proning lower to the ground while the other vaulted over their back, the brawler shuffling to the side and unrelented a fist to pummel against a Grimm bird's beak, sending them careening off into a crowd of the force. Her partner had thrown the blade through a linear crowd, the ribbon being set alight with flames and straightened. Taking the magnum in hand, she props her hand to aim at the direction of the blonde brawler and fired. The brawler shifted in a blur to the side with the front of her fist timing a slam against the butt of the bullet, a shotgun bang going off at contact, the now overcharged golden bullet piercing through those infront of her and tearing them anew. The length of the ribbon flisked into a blade's edge. When the bullet had fired, the curving winds of it had dragged the sharp ribbon and katana semi-circling around them, passing through Grimm at a standstill. On the precise timing, the katana audibly clanged against the bullet._

_Grimm recently passed through by the ribbon had toppled over in halves, the bullet sent ricocheted at an angle due to the blade. The bullet's tip aimed at the white knight who spectated idly, watching as the bullet approach at a ground-tearing railway speed. Seconds before the projectile would reach, a long red-haired woman in light bronze armor stood as a guardian infront of the knight, hand outstretched while the other kept firm grip of a golden rifle. The projectile arcing at an angle, the bullet jettisoned into perfect synchronization with the barrel of the rifle, clanging to indicate its loading._

_She twirled the weapon around the air, the swift hands placed onto the trigger and underside. A wave of rose petals embraced her with snow soon in follow. Behind the riflewoman was the Reaper and the Glyph User, the Reaper carrying the Glyph User quickly over with an arm wrapped around the waist-line. A palm pressed lightly against the butt of the rifle, a glyph activated and wrapped like vines around a trunk. Pulling the trigger, the bullet had unhatched from the barrel and destroyed the entire ground behind them, kicking the dirt up into the skies by air distortion alone._

_Watching the bullet spiral through the air and silhouette bodies, seconds lagged behind was a violet beam of light faded white in its center. Also lagging seconds behind was the ground being torn apart from the sheer force, the velocity of which the bullet underwent had caused it to slowly disintegrate when seconds of slow-motion passed, watching the decomposition of it becoming cubes, then atoms. In its wake, it was a wide enough trench for a castle's moat, lacking Grimm entirely within its crater._

_The white knight rose another gauntleted hand into the air calmly, a vibrating effect ringing off the fingertips of the armor as the sound was nothing but a faint ring. The clouds above darken and combine, tossing and twirling over eachother for dominance as cracks of lightning crackled through their undersides, the ground sparking off faint emissions of pink electricity. The Grimm press their attack further upon the individuals, their endless amounts being a hint of victory for them on this destroyed warzone._

_As the darkly coated woman turned, her golden eyes caught onto a Deathstalker's stinger inches before hitting her._

_Through the light that flashed between them, the stinger had twirled past her head and tummelled into another's head, piercing its boney armor and effectively killing it. She looks up to the falling colors of green and pink, lightning wrapped around them in its embrace. The woman grasped her blade firmly before throwing it directly at the pink source, waiting as the ribbon strained itself tightly and yanked her into the skies. Zipping in a blur past her, an orange-haired girl with a smile plastered onto her face and a man of black long hair tied into a pony-tail, clad in a green shirt, dress pants and white vest, flicked past in a burst of electricity._

_The orange-haired female revealed the black ribbon wrapped around her arm, nodding. Her smile unfolding into a wider one. With a brief fit of giggles, she twirled her body into a spiraling motion, the girl hanging on the other hand of the ribbon also tailing behind. The green-clad man flicked his hands forward, a white material helicasing around his left arm and a black one on his right, both ends at the palms becoming twin swords, revolvers built in the center of them as the barrels rotated. Firing them down into the landing point, the bullets collided into the ground and released a widespread burst of shockwaves that severed the Grimm within its range._

_Seconds near impact, the orange-haired woman cocked back her fist and swung it forward wildly, causing the other to fling ahead in a cresent motion diagonally and tore through the Grimm forces with the side of her blade. All the others, sans the white knight, propelled themselves into the air and descended at the location of where the ball of falling lightning was going to impact. Their weapons raised high above their heads, they, altogether, landed within that one region with the burst of light showering everything around them…_

_The Nevermores and other avian Grimm to fall, the ground perishing into the bright zone that pierced through their bodies as they dissolved away…_

_Now within the center stood these seven individuals, weapons raised for combat, having acres of unoccupied earth around them as they stood back to back. Eyes locked with the thousands of red-eye gleamed Grimm that marched from the far back. As they stand their ground, the sounds of clocking and brandishing of blades click from their spots. The heavy shells of bullets bouncing off the ground within their hollow husks._

_Their enemies halting their advance, pillars of darkness merged from the ground and stack on like towers, bone material forming around their bodies. Giants. Grimm that formed together of all kinds, creating the four-legged horse-like centaur bodies and muscular upper-halves of six arms, fingertips ended of claws. Bone covering their faces like masks and upper-chest. They stand a tremendous height of fifty feet, larger than adult whales or perhaps battleships._

_Still, the hunters stand their place and watch. The red-cloaked Reaper bursts from her position, engaging one of the centaurs, a trail of rose petals in her wake. The ground kicked dirt up into the air, making a cloud at the jump of her feet as the propelled across the air, making face-to-face as an ant compared to a black horse. Swinging her blade in a horizontal arc, the tip only clanged against the bone mask it donned, making an inch of depth into the armor._

_A massive fist met her entire front, slamming her down back into the ground. Her allies quickly attempting to get to her before being blocked off by other Grimm forces. The injured woman unsteadily stood up, her legs wavering of balance. Knees buckled. She props herself up on the staff of her scythe and huffed heavily, regaining her air as she staggers to the centaur once again, it watching her approach idly along with the dozens of other giant centaurs that existed._

_Wings had sprouted from the giant's back, unfolding and revealing itself as an angelic creature descended from the light of the clouds. Needles protrude from the black feathers that make it, created from the Grimm bone. Soon, their tips aim to the woman and fire in hundreds. She brings her arms up, covering what vitals she could until hearing nothing but hollow tips hitting the ground._

_Her eyes look to the white knight that stands infront of her, the hundreds of bone needles stuck into the ground like darts._

_The knight facing her, they raise their palm and rest it unto her shoulder, creating an enshrouding white light around her and healing the wounds she received. Looking down to the now unscathed hands, her silver orbs stare at the knight in awe, nodding as she picked up her scythe once more._

_The two individuals turning, they only turned to see the massive fist a foot away from them on course to slamming into them._


	4. Birth of the Battle Tactician

**Birth of the Battle Tactician**

Blake's Gambol Shroud cleaved through the waistline of the humanoid Grimm, the upper and bottom half hitting the ground before disintegrating. A frown got ahold of Blake's lips, "They disintegrate too—" Her eyes widened when her nose caught sniff of its essence fading into the air, "Everyone, get back, now! Inhaling it is poisonous!" In that instance, everyone had jumped back while Professor Port turned to the plains, noticing the rest of the humanoid Grimms had caught onto their presence and began dashing.

"Run. Now!" The professor ordered.

Everyone began turning around, running for their lives as the beating in Jaune's chest had thumped heavily against his ribcage. His eyes look to meet the other eyes around him, as it seemed like, they too, were also afraid of death close at hand. Even Professor Port.

"Headmaster Ozpin!" Ruby shouted into her scroll, using her Crescent Rose to fire through the forest and send herself coursing through the air.

"Ms. Rose? What's with the wind tunneling in the background? What's going on?"

"Humanoid Grimm! We need a bullhead sent to our location immediately, hurry-!"

The sound of a gunshot forced Ruby to lower her head to see a bone bullet whiz past her head. Her head turning to look at the source, she saw humanoid Grimm wielding rifles and snipers made purely from their bone plates. 'Their long-range weaponry… it's just like ours! At this rate we'll..!' A shadow overloomed her as her silver eyes glance to the spear-wielding Grimm thrusting the tip towards her chest.

* * *

><p>Jaune ran. He ran for as long as he could. The burning sensation through his lungs and legs, he could feel his muscles tearing themselves apart if it weren't for his aura. Bullets were being heard, but no one in his or RWBY's team were firing at all. Was it Ruby since she was out of sight? No. There were too many bullets being fired… unless…<p>

'Oh dust!'

He bowed his head to watch an AM bullet pierce and knock down a tree that was just next to him, the sound of it leaving a deaf ring through his eardrums. 'Hnngh!' He winced, running for the marked point on his scroll for emergency evacuation.

'Almost there… just… just a few more yards!'

Turning his head to see the crew still capable of running, his ocean eyes caught onto a lag-behind team member of RWBY, Blake. Her eyes seemed unfocused as her bow twitched wildly, her hands flimsily whisking against her thigh. It was until it reached the point that she entirely collapsed, passing out almost immediately.

"Blake!"

Without a second thought, he turned around instantly and ran to her direction. By the voice of team JNPR's leader, N, P and R made a 180 and took position around Jaune when he stood beside Blake. Soon enough, Professor Port, Yang and Weiss stood infront with panting, sweating and paling faces as they saw their team member. Jaune frowned, feeling for Blake's pulse…

…

…

_Thump thump._

"She's unconscious! Where's Ruby?"

Yang's eyes widened in shock, looking around frantically for her younger sister, "Ruby!"

"I'm right here!" On cue, she came landing on a broken branch, a small linear cut scraping her shoulder, "They have guns like ours! We aren't trained to fight Grimm with guns!" She huffed, trailing her eyes until noticing Blake passed out on the ground, "B-Blake!"

"Professor Port, what's happened to her?!" Ren asked, nearly sounding like a question demanding an answer.

"She's been knocked out possibly by the poison she's inhaled from the Grimm she killed! Quickly, we must get to the evacuation point!"

Everyone ducked their heads when bullets became embedded into the trees around them, taking cover on instinct as they switched to long ranged secondaries, "Think quick!" Pyrrha shouted from her cover as Nora's explosives went off in the distance without any signs of laughter at this point. It was easy to assume that the most hyperactive girl of JNPR was also scared and unwilling to risk jesting around.

Jaune squinted his eyes, his muscles tense, his legs trembling with fear. Will he die here, remaining as the dorky knight everyone knew as the resident idiot of Beacon? His teeth gritted together, pulling Blake promptly up and pulling her behind the tree. He wasn't strong enough to carry her, why can't he ever do anything right?! Jaune felt a thrashing burn in his side suddenly, feeling a graze of a bullet across his skin. His eyes looked down to the grazing left on his skin as it bled. 'Why aren't I healing?!'

He back slid down against the trunk of the tree, the bullets puncturing slowly through the wooden bark. Around him, he was watching. Incapable of doing anything that concerned with long range… It felt like slow motion to him now, where death is nothing but an inevitable 'it's now or never' moment…

Pyrrha was firing back with her rifle, peeking just around her cover until immediately pulling back behind, her head tucked into her shoulder to prevent getting shrapnels into her eyes.

Nora, unrequiring to aim as she freely blasted humanoid lines back with her explosives of Magnhild, alongside Ren's cover.

Ren, firing just barely around the large rock enough to prevent being shot and shooting back as the bullets ate away the other half of the stone he was behind.

Yang sat behind an ascension of ground acting as a trench, standing up in small intervals to fire her shotgun gauntlets as far as she could to make it effective with Professor Port by her side.

Weiss was forming barriers with her ice dust, creating compacted dust walls as cover for others, Ruby sliding just behind one the moment her cover of a tree began to topple over.

Then there was him… with Blake, using himself and as much as his armor to cover her unconscious body, the cold skin brushing against his warmth. She began to clutch onto his hoodie subconsciously, feeding on his warmth as much as possible as if her life depended on it, "M… mom… dad…" Blake muttered through her state.

Jaune's eyes slightly widened, finding himself wrapping his arms more tightly around her body to assure that she was safe. A liar, on the inside, who knew he couldn't protect her… the outside, a mere husk to cover up the lies by seeming like truth. He hated himself for this. Berated himself. Mentally murder himself. His eyes shut hard to the point tears began to leak, falling upon her face and trickle down.

'Mom… Dad…'

He was shaking as he heard Ruby shout, "White Rose!" Turning his head, he saw as sparks flew from Weiss's formed fortification, Ruby standing up and aiming out Cresent Rose's barrel while her partner created a glyph circle infront of the gun. Allowing her to fire ice-encased bullets that exploded into ice spikes. More just kept coming, and his crew just kept moving back by the time they gained more land. He needed to carry her safely to the point… but why..? Why does he have to be a coward now?

"Freezer Burner!" Ruby sent out another command, Weiss tipping Mytrenaster to the ground and calling forth more ice that carved into a pathway-like road. Yang jumped into the air, the sole of her feet hitting the ice and sliding as she used her shotgun rounds to increase her speed on the frictionless service while her other hand fired through the Grimm, weaving in and out of their front lines.

Jaune turned his head, watching as Yang began falling onto her back as a bullet weaved through her chest, the excrutiating pain causing Yang to relent and cry out in pain. Weiss quickly formed a barrier around Yang, pulling her back to their lines and rummaged through her pockets for some kind of healing glyph she could create with dust, her hands trembling as vials of dust spilled out onto the floor in desperation. He could see her mouthing the words as she shouted, "J-just a moment, Y-yang!"

"Nora!" The blonde's head turned the other way, to see his male teammate hovered above an orange-haired girl's body, clutching the arm that poured slight amounts of red contect onto the grass. Their aura trying to seal up as much of the wound already if it weren't for the focus interfering with its mending for combat. It was only seven minutes in… and this is happening..?

'Do something… do something… do something, me, dammit!'

His head raised up to see the skies… the damned peaceful skies.

'Just… another illusion, right..? I should've seen it earlier… why… why am I such a doofus at everything?'

Slowly, he closed his eyes, hoping this reality would end and be just another nightmare. Another nightmare that he wanted out of his head…

* * *

><p>His eyes opened as sound became silenced. Instead, metallic plates clacking against eachother was heard to his right, turning his head to see a white armored legging gently touch the weaving grass. It felt as if time slowed down immensely, to where he could see the bullets whizz across the air, the distorted trails of air following behind them. The chunks and shrapnels of nature floating idly from their original location.<p>

It felt… weird. Almost as if he could feel his own heart lightly thumping against his chest now, although feeling as if it was just reaching the surface just behind his wall of skin, pressed between the gap of his lungs slightly. The ocean blue eyes trailed to the walking knight in white that just passed him calmly, a golden scarf inanimately winding behind from around their neck. Walking into the center of battle with a sword and shield, back turned to the blonde teen, and displayed no sign of fear in their wake.

A 'shiiiing!' released from the knight's waist, revealing a gleamed white sword akin to Jaune's own. They raise their blade and point its tip at the humanoid Grimms, the knight's face turned to Jaune's. Donned with a white helmet, an azure visor blocked their eyes and revealed the lower half of their face.

Jaune couldn't hear anything, nor did the knight's mouth move to speak. Instead, he understood through action.

'This is the enemy…,' The knight implied. Then pointed at their forehead with a free hand. '… Fight without action, and fight through the words of a hero. One who fights for nothing, one who seeks for something.'

He blinked, the word of thoughts entering through his mind and leaving an impact for a memory to keep.

The knight turned back forward to look at the near-inanimate crowd of Grimm before them. 'It's a big crowd you have here. Alone, as an army to a squad. The colors don't collide. So make them collide.' The jangling sounds of their armor being the final sounds of their withdrawal as they dissipate into the nonexistent…

By the minutes, time was gradually coming back into logic, and Jaune had more time than it did.

Time to ponder.

Time to consider.

Time to do.

Jaune's hands clenched into a fist when he lightly let down the Faunus in his arms, letting her press her back against the tree as Jaune stood up, the shade of darkness overglooming his eyes from visibility.

It feels right… to be in place. Of what you justly deserve.

The sound of a young girl's voice smoothly coursed through his mind as his eyes depthed in keen observation, as the ground he stood upon had a vantage sight over the entire field. Where he saw everyone, and everyone didn't see him unless they'd focus. The plucking of an acoustic guitar's strings tranced him into his zone of thoughts. Where the girl speaks of the royal test and speaks of the beasts that descends from shadows…

This battlefield is his **playing field.**

"I will be borrowing this. I apologize, Blake." He picked up Gambol Shroud from Blake's grips, the fingers reluctantly letting go easily for him to grasp. Uncomfortable weapons for him to be wielding, but this is what it meant for him to carry this sin of using others. Uncomfortability, weight. All of it didn't or didn't matter.

* * *

><p>Pyrrha's scroll had vibrated, the emerald eyes noticing the familiar face of her team leader on the screen. She immediately picked up, "JAUNE! Where are you?! Are you okay, did you get Blake behind safety?!"<p>

"I need you to listen to me, Pyrrha…," A depthed voice had spoke into her scroll, rendering her to be unable to recognize who it was at first. She was… fairly certain this was her leader, but why did it send shivers down her spine?

"O-of course Jaune… w-what is it?" She hesitated, sidling her head into her shoulder again as another chunk of the tree blasted apart. The tree began to lean back. Pyrrha frowned at her current cover, glancing around for another to use.

A huff left his lips, "Following my exact orders, and stay calm when you do it. I have trust in you, Pyrrha." Pyrrha slightly widened her eyes, the red streak crossing her face in a light hue as she nods, "O-okay."

* * *

><p><strong>A minute after Pyrrha's contact with Jaune…<strong>

* * *

><p>Ruby glanced down to her scroll to see Jaune's icon while a block of ice flung past her. 'This means that Blake's safe..! I hope!' She picked up while Weiss provided some supportive fire, Yang clutching onto her chest as she shot with her free arm, wincing at every two shots or so.<p>

"Jaune, is Blake safe now?!" Ruby had to shout into her scroll to be audible over the scroll's mic from the bullets in the background.

"She is." The young reaper froze, the previously trembling of her hands stopping as she felt a cold blanket sweep over her. Weiss felt a hint of it as her eyes trailed to glance at Ruby's paled face. Ruby felt extremely happy that Blake was safe and out of harm's way but… but… why did this voice nearly petrify her?

"I need you to listen to my commands and follow to my exact orders. Pyrrha is doing the same, and I have my trust in you as well. Keep faith in your comrades, show it through your eyes. They also have faith in you, so you show yours to them, and they will do the same."

Ruby's head slightly twitched, perking up an inch as she inhaled the words that came from the blonde teen. The goosebumps that was residue on her skin was now warmed with some kind of adrenaline, her blood pumping through her body to a point that she could feel the warmth radiating off her as her silver eyes locked onto an important aspect.

* * *

><p>Pyrrha glanced to Ren, who looked back to her, as Ren blinked at his comrade. There was something different about her, but he couldn't exactly put it on a nail. Through her emerald eyes, there was an entirely different world that Ren was glancing through, one that he couldn't completely comprehend only by fact that, that was the only world he wanted to be in with Nora, his family, his friends. Through her eyes, he'd realize something.<p>

If he died here, that world won't be reached...!

He returned her glance with a nod, as if understanding what she was attempting to say entirely by a mere eye-contact. Pyrrha had one thing in her eyes that kept an important aspect, in not only her own, but others with their own worlds of defined tranquility.

For Ruby and Pyrrha, that word is 'Faith'.

* * *

><p>Professor Port glanced to Ruby, who was at the moment supporting a covering of fire with his secondary. "Professor, do you have faith in me?!" Ruby asked with a bold determination for an answer from him, in which Port could only stare and marvel at the built confidence that suddenly developed inside of the young girl.<p>

He nods, "I always will in my young students, Ruby Rose!" The old man unintentionally let out a laugh, the fatigue and stress that originally strained his veins began to burst with a flame. A flame of strength and renewal! Port's hand clenched into a grip fist as strength bursted through his weariness.

Ruby turned her attention to Weiss and Yang, their bewilderment of the course of a 'morale influence' of a young girl against an aged graduated hunter making them unable to speak or question what occurred. "Sis, Weiss! I have faith in you, so have faith in me, got it?!" The 15 year old narrowed her eyes to them, an unparallel force washing over them as they made eye-contact with Ruby's confidence, warmth washing over them in a soothing passion as they realize they had more things weighed on their shoulders. To what made them want to become hunters.

In the distance, Jaune held Gambol Shroud in his hands, the guilt drowned within his ambition as his eyes met with an unmatchable focus, the light in his eyes burned away, casted aside by his will to reach an unphysical goal. For his plan to come into fruition for the sake of not only his own, but the others that he was fated with to protect. Mouth agap; his expression sharp with a glare to the battlefield while the young leader expelled a roar into the horizon.

* * *

><p><strong>"<strong>**Begin the Grimm Eclipse Operation!"**

* * *

><p><strong> Chapter 5 Release Date: [ 0122/2015 || EASTERN TIME ZONE: 9:00 PM ]**

_**"Rebel, to the Grimm Eclipse!"**_


	5. Rebel, to the Grimm Eclipse!

**Rebel, to the Grimm Eclipse!**

This playing field became a 3D holographic coordinate plane to him, where everything was designated by either numbers or dictated by physics. Soon, his scroll clicked with a 'beep', indicating that everyone on scroll was in call now with him locally. "Ruby and Pyrrha are to take direct orders from me, from there, the fully operational will take their commands and the injured will take from me."

Weiss, Yang, Ren and Professor Port take a glance at their scroll to see that there wasn't anyone new in the area, it was Jaune entirely as the outline glew around his icon, indicating it was his voice being spoken into the mic.

"Jaune, my boy, what on earth happened to—"

"We finish this first, then we talk, Professor Port." The stoic and cold tone 'vibrated' through the scrolls and transferred to their nerve system, causing them to also vibrate from the mere voice.

"Weiss and Professor Port are to take direct commands from Ruby in which I will send quick-note plans to her so she can quickly debrief it to you and initiate it. Pyrrha."

"Y-yes?"

"You focus on gathering the wounded and bringing them to this marked location I'm placing on the scroll's minimap system. Ruby, you move to Point B."

"Copy that! Let's move out, everyone!"

"Ren."

"Nora is wounded, I need to get her out of here—" The Asian started off with panic through his speeding voice, speaking into his scroll as the words nearly came out as stuttered with Nora trying to console him.

"Ren. Listen to me…," Jaune intercepted abruptly, causing Ren to stop his panicking moment. "I know what's going on right now is sudden and we're not trained for this… but for me to help you, as your team leader, I order you to escort Nora and Yang and bring them to Point A. If you do exactly just that, I can give you 100% on my word that they'll be safe. The bullhead will be arriving in ten minutes, and we need to use those ten minutes as much as we can until they get here. Understood?" Jaune ended the note with a near-hushed tone for Ren to slowly compose himself to. With a shaky breath, Ren replied.

"Y-yes… Understood…" The gunslinger closed his eyes, inhaling slowly for the seconds to pass, ignoring the bullets that whizzed by their heads, scraping the rock, trees and other terrain. Then he exhaled, allowing the breath to slowly expel from his lungs. "Nora, let's go."

"Pyrrha, take Nora's Magnhild and activate it to its grenade function. Fire at the trees five meters from the enemy front lines when I say go. When I say 'go' again, run to Yang's position and bring her here, she's wounded and you'll most likely need to lift her if required."

Jaune's vision took turn to the other side of the field, where Ruby, Weiss and Port were supposed to be.

"Ruby, what's your status?"

Ruby lifted the scroll, hidden behind a line of rocks that would be easily used as cover. In overview, her team was completely at the entire enemy's side, undetected, "We're clear, they don't know we're here. What's the next order?"

Jaune nodded, raising Gambol Shroud's handgun in an arking angle to which it seemed like it was going a little up higher than the average holding point, "Think of the words carefully when I say it… 'Metal Ice Popcorn Party'."

With a blank expression, her eyes stared to the device in her hand that allowed to her to speak with the blonde. Within a minute, she had sucked in the bottom of her lip, shaking as if she were going to pop in any moment. This caused the heiress and chaperone professor to wave their hands infront of the young girl, checking to see if she's maintained her own sanity the past few seconds. Beginning to protrude immense amounts of sweat from her pores, Ruby nearly bursted out laughing, smashing her forehead into the solid surface of the rock and clutching her mouth with her palms shut, until coming into realization that those four words was all it took for her to break it down mentally. The thoughts spurring through Ruby's mental gears, the gears crushing them into a flat line for her to simplify as it left her head. Immediately, the red-cloaked girl glanced to Weiss, "Weiss, I need you to make snowball-shaped ice, lots of them. Professor Port, do you have any metal on you?"

The Professor couldn't help but become skeptical of the topic, his brain attempting to sort through the possibilities of one could do with ice and metal, "Why yes I do, I have metal sheets for traps. Will those do?"

Ruby snaps her fingers, "… Yes."

* * *

><p>Pyrrha, Ren and Nora stood behind the rocks, back pressed against it for securable cover as Pyrrha held Magnhild in her hands, aiming directly at the tree Jaune had marked. Jaune spoke up into her scroll eventually while the bullets ricocheted off the rock's curves, "Three minutes in. Seven minutes remaining for their probable arrival. Pyrrha, ready?"<p>

"… Yes, Jaune.'

"Just have faith in yourself. Everyone here has their faith on you, don't be afraid." He consoled, continuing with his plan of execution, "I want you to throw your shield to your left, tilt the shield 120 degrees or less. Then I'll say go, and you fire the grenade launcher and make a dash for Yang. Nora."

"Ready to go, fearless leader!" Nora beamed, her vote of confidence resided within the leader of her team. Ren was reassured a smile. If his childhood friend could have that much faith, then so should he.

Suddenly, three shots rang out from the scroll.

Pyrrha glanced at her scroll, lips pursed into a frown as she spoke, "Jaune?! What was that?!"

"Just follow the plan, don't worry about me." By the sounds of it, he was fine to say to the least, "Throw it, Pyrrha."

With a brief nod, she carefully angled her shield, utilizing the ability of her semblance to increase the amount of power and precision behind her throw and released after a swift twirl. The round defense soon went whirling straight down as Pyrrha watched it become smaller and smaller into the distance. Maybe she threw it too hard. Eitherway, it'd come back to her eventually. She'll make sure of that.

"Go!"

Pyrrha loaded Magnhild, releasing a shot to the designated set of trees. In impact, the explosion set the roots of the trees and the according rest soaring into the sky, the trees blown back as they fell on unfortunate humanoids. On prompt, Ren and Nora made a run to their assigned point without further adue, the bullets inaccurately going by them. Ren had made sure Nora was safe, when his magenta orbs glanced to the amount of cover they had from this angle… that's when he realized it.

* * *

><p>"Yang!" Pyrrha called out to the blonde figure, noticing the patch of ice covering a hole in the brawler's chest, "Heya… P-money. Don't worry about that, it just missed my lungs fortunately." She winced, firing off another shot from behind her cover, "Thanks for your help earlier, thought I'd get hit by that bullet."<p>

The amazon blinked, raising an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"You threw your shield in this direction earlier, didn't you? You blocked a bullet for me before it managed to hit my shoulder when I peeked out of cover." Yang rose an eyebrow this time, having to be confused to whether or not it was unintentional.

"I-I didn't know I…" Pyrrha stopped herself, processing her thoughts together in links. It was until she concluded it with a gasp that she glanced to the direction her shield had continued to fling off to, "That's what Jaune saw coming!"

"Wooooooah, woahoho, P-Money, you got to keep your boyfriend in check then. He's really good at planning this out if he saw that coming." Yang rose her hands in surrender, seeming slightly shocked judging from her lilac eyes.

The amazon glanced to the side and sighed, "He's not my boyfriend… we're just… friends."

"-heh, I'll casually just take him then if-"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

* * *

><p>"Hey, do any of you guys recognize that Frisbee?" Ruby asked while peeking over the edge, noticing Pyrrha's shield flying off after ricocheting off their rock of cover. Weiss frowned, creating the last ball of ice and sighed in relief, wiping the sweat from her brow, "A Frisbee out here? That's absurd, there's no way a—" Weiss took a look over the rock as well to notice the shield flying off in the distance, blinking in confusion, "—you dunce, that's Pyrrha's shield!"<p>

"It's quite amazing how physics work in a world like ours… I remember the younger days when children thought making Frisbees with blades at the end would make great chakrams! That was… until they realized they wouldn't be able to hold it since the entire rim was full of poking knives." Professor Port slid back down after joining the group glance of the round flying object. "Professor, are you done with the things I asked for?" Ruby asked politely, glancing down to the spheres scattered across the floor. Each individual sphere was made of ice, but coating around it was a metal net. The heiress took a glance over their products and sighed, "Jaune has a strange way of giving you these ideas… what are these even for?" She picked one up, juggling it in a hand.

"Ruby, are you and your team done making it?"

Ruby hastily picked up her scroll, watching it flip several times in her clumsy hands and nods, "Ready on you."

"Wait on my go."

The professor held up an index finger as an imaginary lightbulb lit over his head, "By dust! This boy is a brillia-!" He was intercepted by Weiss and Ruby quickly placing their hands over his mouth to shut him up, preventing their location from being revealed.

* * *

><p>Jaune's eyes absorbed the information of the current terrain while noting Pyrrha arriving with Yang, arm over shoulder, and then Ren with Nora jogging alongside him safely. The arrivers collapsed to the ground, taking breaths as they gasped for air from escaping the battlefield, "Let's… Let's not do this again." Ren's face fell first into the grass. Yang was the first to notice a familiar black pair of weapons in Jaune's hands, "Hey, Vomit Boy, why do you have Blake's weapons?"<p>

Ren spoke for him, having to already guess the plan he was going to finalize, "He… he's planning to use them as a trap to counter the Grimm. I… huh." The gunslinger rolled onto his back, sitting upright to see the chaos amongst the field, "You… you planned all of it out, didn't you?"

He received a friendly grin from his leader's face.

"Nngh…" Blake muttered. Yang rolled to her side and shook her shoulders, "Blake, come on… just a little longer, I promise…" The brawler muttered In concern for her partner. Jaune didn't disregard this scene. His eyes trailed to emerald eyes that peered at him, "Whatever you're planning on doing… don't get yourself harmed. I won't forgive myself if I let you get hurt." Pyrrha narrowed her eyes, somewhat glaring at him, half in concern.

"I won't let that happen then… 'mom'."

A snicker came out from Yang and Nora.

Jaune treaded to Blake, kneeling near her while resting a hand on her hand. With a few moments of silence, he stood up again and turned around, quickly making a dash for another location as he shot random bullets into the air again, "Everyone stay here, follow my orders if I call you. Bullhead arrives in three minutes. Pyrrha, I want you to look in that direction and wait, use your semblance to temporarily carry a few things afloat in the air. Nora, hold Magnhild at a 75 degree angle to the sky from where you are, fire when I say so. Ren, help her with the calculations."

"Why do I have to help her with calcu-"

"Because you're Asian."

"PPPPPFFFFTHAHAHAHAHAA-!"

"NORA!"

* * *

><p>Professor Port made the last attachment, everyone carrying atleast two of the spheres they made, one for each hand. "So we have to <em>throw <em>these things into the air just above their heads? How would this help with our situation?" Weiss asked, seeming doubtful of the plan at first.

"When we throw it, we have to run away from here as fast as possible and make sure we make it back to Point A, where everyone else is." Ruby states, sitting on one knee while preparing to throw it. "What if we don't-?"

"Go!"

Ruby, Weiss and Port took the signal promptly, throwing all the spheres into the air above the Grimms' heads and darting away. Leaving the Grimm absolutely clueless, their attention was focused to the spheres falling above their heads instead of averting their attention to the running figures.

"Pyrrha, now!"

In cue, the metal net around the spheres glew with a dark vibrance in which kept the objects afloat in the air, feet above from hitting the ground.

"Nora!"

A distant, familiar feminine laughter was heard echoing throughout the forest as the Grimm trail their eyes around from tree to tree at the sound, pinpointing the location and rushed to the location. 'Poof!'

"Did… anyone hear that?" The heiress blinked, looking up to notice a falling smoke coming down from the sky. It seemed to be some kind of… metallic canister- 'Oh dust no.'

"Go go go go gO GO GO GO!" Weiss shouted at the top of her lungs as explosions triggered behind them, the spheres they created earlier being involved, as ice shards and metallic shrapnels stabbed into the nature or Grimm around. Injuring, or lethally killing the humanoid Grimm, as they rushed forward blindly from the ascended mist and smoke. Any Grimm that approached Point A were immediately tripped by a black ribbon attached from one tree all the way to another, the ribbon being concealed behind enough trees to make it seem invisible.

Standing infront of all the tripped humanoid Grimm was a blonde male in white armor, unarmed. Perhaps the foolish way to approach Grimm at first, atleast, they thought it was until a gold-detailed crimson shield came sawing through all of them, the contour of the shield being rimmed with red to indicate the heat building up within the edges of the projectile. Slicing and dicing through the enemies and even tearing through the ground.

The back-line forces of Grimm jumped over Gambol Shroud's ribbon after the shield had zoomed away. Raising the heads of their guns and weapons, the shield zipped by from behind as bullet shells came raining down from the sky uselessly, clanging against the topside of the shield and then redirected rapidly into the backs of the Grimm fighters. Instead of any triggers pulled or blades slashed, they found themselves collapsing into the floor with bullet tips or sides embedded into their backs.

Jaune proceeded to one end of Gambol Shroud, detatching it from a tree trunk and pulled the other end in a tug to return to his hand. Clipping it to his belt, the blonde knight rose his arm and waited for a few seconds, mouthing a countdown from fifteen for a familiar shield to come twirling into his hand, timing it to grab it by the handle precautiously. He turned to the direction Ruby's team would be coming in from, simply waving to them with a smug grin.

As much as it wasn't polite to wave back, they… really couldn't find any words to say after witnessing the onslaught of the countered forces of Grimm done by such a small squadron of people. Looking up, they saw the bullhead fly overheard and land on the point that the rest were waiting at. Instead of finding words to say, Jaune gestured to the bullhead and jogged to the vehicle with them.

Lucky and thankful to get out alive…

… Jaune just wished that he didn't have motion sickness for dust's sake.

* * *

><p>"You should've seen it! It was all like, boom and then splat! They were everywhere and in seconds, they were going down like cardboard!" Nora flailed her arms for affect as everyone grouped around Ozpin's desk. The Headmaster, unfortunately, took it upon himself by saying 'yes' when Nora asked if she could give an explanation. When Ren tried to stop him, it was already too late. They were standing in there for atleast twenty minutes for Nora's explanation when in actuality it could've taken atleast five. Maybe more.<p>

"So from what I can simplify… you all stopped a massive force of 'humanoid Grimm' with precise timing and strategy?" Ozpin readjusting his spectacles, sipping his mug of coffee, intrigued by the most important facts. Especially when his eyes wandered off to Jaune, who was sitting in the back, rubbing the back of his head and dozing off on a couch. Mouth slightly agap as a light snore came out from his uncomfortable position.

"Yes. We couldn't have done it without Jaune." Pyrrha claimed, a smile lapsed on her face. "I second that!" Ruby rose a hand childlishly, a grin also plastered on her face. "Me three!" Then followed in Nora. Everyone else, they went 'hell no' and decided to conserve their energy to get to bed from the exhaustion. "I see…" Ozpin glanced down to the documents set on his table, even the pilot of the bullhead's report of what he witnessed when descending for pick-up.

As for what it said specifically:

_'I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Grimm that looked like humans. Right there before I landed to pick the clients up, I saw smoke ascending into the skies and trees completely destroyed. When I landed, everyone was at the evacuation point, worn out and injured from what I could tell. There were only three people injured out of nine?! From this massive scale of a fight?_

_ When I saw that blonde kid, Johnny was his name? Jaune? He was standing there with that weird smile and then I saw an entire pile of dead Grimm in a line for him, on the floor, with three other people just staring at him with the same expression me and all the others had when he was the last to board the bullhead! Absolutely—oh right._

_ He's not coming on my bullhead anymore with that motion sickness of his. Seriously, I recommend taking anti-motion sickness medication or find another pilot to drive them around. I'm not cleaning up my baby again.'_

He lowered the report from his hands and glanced to each individual, which each individual was constantly sending glances over to the blonde leader of team JNPR. The boy had talent for strategy and planning, clearly… but THIS much? "How is Ms. Belladona?" Ozpin leaned forward from his seat, elbows propped against his gear-turning desk. The rest of the gears within his office continued to turn, clicks going off by the five-second interval as he set it to. It never seemed to annoy him, only to work his thoughts when needed.

"She's fine. The doctors say that she miraculously managed to survive from a Tier 5 toxicant poison." Yang flinched at Weiss's statement, granted that she IS the brawler's partner. She looked away, focusing on something else. This did not go unnoticed by the headmaster, as he will make appropriate decisions as to helping her speedy recovery.

"I see then. Please, do take the time to have the week off in my consent due to the unexpected misfortune. I apologize for sending you off in a mission as risky as that."

"It's not like you knew, Headmaster, I should be taken into accountable for the injury of students." Professor Port had joined in, shutting the door behind him once he got into his academy-appropiate uniform, "I should have taken extra precautions." The Headmaster raised his hand to stop further words, "For this exemption, I can't hold anyone accountable for this… but the matter of 'humanoid Grimm' is a pressing case. I will have to speak to the council on this behalf and have them investigate into the issue. To present this information may be vital for the future of Remnant. I can't thank you enough for what you have done. I will have to speak to Mr. Arc privately sometime."

"Nora, you go on to bed first. I'll go get Jaune."

"'Kay, Renny!" Nora skipped off to their dorm room before hearing a loud 'thunk!' from behind the double doors. "Aw, my leg fell aslee—Zzzz."

He sighed, shaking his head as he restrained a chuckle. Ren patted Jaune's shoulder nudgingly, "Come, Jaune. It's time for you to get back to your dorm room and sleep there."

The sleeping figure known as Jaune simply waved his hand around, brushing off the Asian's hand, "Hnngh. Just a few miinuuuutes…" He drowsily yawned, head tucked into the soft texture of the couch.

A sigh left Ren's mouth, turning to Pyrrha before heading out, "You get him, he's your partner…," The corner of his lips tugged into a curl, grinning while shaking his head, "… I have to thank him in the morning too…" Opening the doors to find a sleeping Nora with a red mark on her forehead and a dent in the wall, Ren took the responsibility to carry her back to bed, leaving the door's hinges to shut itself.

Pyrrha glanced down to her partner, the streak of a blush on her cheeks when trying to find a solution as to how to get her partner to wake up. Team RWBY (sans the 'B' of the team) was still with her as well within the office, aside from Ozpin while he chatted with Professor Port. When everything seemed easy, there was one significant obstruction in her way that kept her from accomplishing it.

That obstruction? Getting Jaune to bed. He can be persistent a few times afterall. When she took one step forward, Ruby's hand was placed onto her shoulder to prevent her from doing anything else, "I… I was wondering if you wanted to talk about Jaune. What he did back there with the army of Grimm…" Behind her back, Ruby was twiddling with her fingers unnervingly. Weiss gave an offset look to the ground in thought. Yang had been staring at the slumbering blonde on the couch for a few seconds until looking back up to Pyrrha without the slightest hint of making a joke.

"What he did was… unnatural of him, but it saved our lives. Maybe even saved us a few scars and wounds," Pyrrha near-muttered, eyes travelling to the ground while her hand rubbed the opposite arm, "I'll be honest when I say that I didn't expect a miracle like that to happen. I didn't realize that he had such potential when displaying it on the field." The wounds that Yang and Nora had sustained wasn't significant as they were tended to, healing up quickly when they were treated just minutes after returning to Beacon's launchpad. Pyrrha turned to glance at his cheek, seeing that the cut he received from the flinging tree appendage had healed.

The heiress opened her mouth slightly to speak, "What Mr. Arc did on the field of battle was necessary of him, and fortunately, it saved yours and Professor Port's lives." Weiss gave off a dumbfounded expression, shutting her mouth.

Wait a minute.

That wasn't her voice.

Turning around, Professor Ozpin stood with a grin plastered onto his face, a cup of fresh coffee in hand, "To execute it precisely to plan and predict every move is only what a genius could accomplish, and not even I could accomplish that with my talents," He claims, taking a sip from his mug. Ozpin turned around, making strides to the glass wall gazed out ot the courtyard of the campus, "Only in the future, shall we need someone like him more. Time is short, but yet long." Head turned to face his students, he nods, "Carry on now, go to bed. A rest is what you should be deserving."

Snapping them out of their thoughts, Pyrrha wrapped an arm around Jaune's shoulder, helping him get back to their dorm with Ruby, Yang and Weiss following in tow. With the door snapping shut, Ozpin patiently counted a minute and set down his cup. Looking over the profile of Blake Belladona, what intrigued him most was the estimated amount of days until a full recovery…

Deciding that it was appropriate to take a visit, the headmaster strolled down to the infirmary.

* * *

><p>Blake's eyes slowly opened, everything appearing as a blur at first to notice all the white light seeping into her vision. Cracking a groan, she shuffled through the blanket. Then she stopped, eyes becoming clear of its blurry status and saw the infirmary beds set around her. Reaching up, she felt satisfied that the bow remained.<p>

The door had creaked into an open, revealing the green-scarfed aged hunter, Ozpin, "Hello Ms. Belladona, I hope I'm not intruding on beauty sleep you intended on having." Blake restrained a chuckle, simply replying with a silent stare. "I'm glad that you're doing alright after what happened at Jugunges Plains. I will only stay for a few questions, if you don't mind."

Pulling over a chair, he sat a fair distance away from Blake's bed and went through his scroll, "Do you remember much?"

"… Slightly… All I remember is the humanoid Grimm's dissolvement and inhaling the gas, then my head went numb and it went black from there." Blake frowned, wrapping herself with the blanket as she strained her brain to remember, "What happened while I was unconscious..?"

"You inhaled a tier 5 toxin," Ozpin claimed, setting down the scroll, "You had passed out from the effects of the toxin, and then everyone began to engage combat at the forests while waiting for the bullhead. Surprisingly, when the bullhead arrived, the pilot was the first to inform me that team Juniper and yours had managed to counter an entire army of humanoid Grimm."

Keeping his gaze set upon the scroll's details, he didn't need to look to sense that her eyes were widening, "The leader of team Juniper, Jaune Arc, was the one who ensured your safety by setting you upon the hill. There is something strange about it however." Her bow twitched at the tone Ozpin let out. "… judging by your report from the doctor, you should be able to move around again by tomorrow morning."

Blinking, the Faunus could only stare at Ozpin cluelessly. "By inhaling a tier 5 toxin from creatures of Grimm and keeping the toxin coursing through your body for atleast thirty minutes; minimal consequences would've been half of your body being permanently paralyzed by now." A tense feeling of shock rung through Blake's ears, the golden orbs of her eyes becoming increasingly aware of what should've happened. Her head turned to the headmaster, "Then… how—"

"How are you still able to feel your legs and all? From what I've heard from the others, Jaune had carried you all the way to the hill and put you down, from there, you seemed to be fine on your own." Flicking his index finger across the scroll's screen, his eyes narrowed suddenly, "I've inferred that his aura is what kept you safe from such thing. Your partner, Yang Xiao Long, had claimed that you were clutching him subconsciously during the time of your disablement. Does that ring any bell?"

She held up her palm to look at it in question, waiting for seconds to pass, "I… yes. I recalled my…" Blake's golden eyes glanced around the room for anyone possibly listening, even the bow twitching slightly to hear anyone. She felt safe with the headmaster knowing that she was a Faunus, granted that he did exploit her secret privately during her first year at Beacon, "… my parents. When I held onto him… I didn't know what exactly came over me. I had… warm memories of my parents, and other times. Jaune had something I… was comfortable with." Her head raising, she saw Ozpin with a weakly restrained smirk, "D-don't you dare tell him that." Her palm balled into a fist in which Ozpin rose a hand.

"I won't, rest assured. For now, rest, Ms. Belladona. A day of interesting times awaits tomorrow, and sleep won't come if you're talking all night long. Good night." He stood up from his stool and pocketed away the scroll, glancing at the clock that said '10:32 PM' and left. The door coming to a silent click at its close.

Blake gazed up to the ceiling and laid back down once again, her eyes staring to the boring surface. Her thoughts derived from her savior, Jaune Arc, but at the same time, it piqued her interests as to figuring out who that man really is. What he was hiding… What is it that you're keeping so well confined, Arc..?

* * *

><p><strong>Quack. Here again, sorry for occupying this space and won't seem to pique to your interest into reading this- unless you are, then yay!- I'm going to keep the update times up at the end of each chapter if it occurs to me that it should be there. For a while, I can perform some fast updates if I get some requests for early posts. I don't mind, personally. Quack. Just don't spam PM me, please. [ insert sadface here ]<strong>

**Thanks for reading guys, and I'll catch you up later! Quack. fanfictionPenguin aborting thread.**

* * *

><p><strong>[ Next Update: 124/2015 || 5:00 PM EST ]**

_**"First Unison: The First Ascended Legacies"**_


	6. First Unison: FALL

**First Unison: The First Ascended Legacies**

A chill brothe down his neck, causing him to shiver and shake from the rough corners of the surface he was sprawled upon. The ocean blue eyes glancing up to the ceiling, it dawned on him as there was no ceiling. Only a solid-black color spread across his entire vision as light faintly shone down from an unknown source. Jaune's shook violently in the cold husk of a room, his palms brushed against the rough edges of the bumpy, rugged floor he laid on. Feeling the sweat trickle down his skin, the sweat curved around the unleveled regions of his face and dripped down from his chin.

The wind didn't make it any better when it clashed against the wet texture of his body, the nipping frost touching his senses sensibly. He shook, still. Wearing his armor, black hoodie, boots and jeans like he was casually on a free day. His sight travelled down from the pitch-black ceiling and room, the only thing he could feel beneath him was the ground.

His hand tumbled an object off what he was currently sitting upright on, looking down to the object and whatever he may have been sitting on. His breathing became ragged, the hands promptly flinging up to his chest-height to realize the pile of bones he was sitting on. The blonde teen jumped off of it, his feet landing onto the black flooring and stared in shock as he tried to absorb the current surroundings.

Soundless, as the room remained as it was while time had passed. Searching for a way out, there lacked a door within this room and aside from the bones, the cold air was another occupant. His mouth parting way to shout, he yelled from the top of his lungs. The veins being seen pulsing from his throat and up as the voice tried to find sound again, but failed to. Instead, there was a screaming boy who was desperately trying to hear again.

To hear his own voice.

To hear for an answer.

His hands clenched into fists, the flexing of his muscles keeping his endurance to stand while shouting for five minutes to no end. It was only a ringing of deafness transmitting into his ears, the sweat becoming worse as s skin folded. Stopping his charade, Jaune glanced to the folding of his skin and bones that crawled across the ground to surround him. The blonde knight panicked, his arms wildly swatting the air and shaking his body to knock off the bones scaling his height. His age increasing gradually, the blonde grew over time with the bones now flooding his lower half, screaming soundlessly for help. His hair becoming straighter and healthily lushious blonde, a 5 o'clock shade built around as facial hair, the ocean eyes brightened through the darkness until the bones managed to flood above his head-level, leaving only his arm that reached for the blank ceiling.

If this was a nightmare, then so, why isn't he waking up now? His arm begun to fail him, slowly losing its will to remain outstretched from the flooding of rattling decompositions. One way he wish he could've expected to die, if this weren't a nightmare. He closed his eyes again into his deeper slumber, rest buried beneath the gray bones that kept him.

_Thump… thump..._

His eyes sprung open, the sound of his heart beating filling the entire room that trapped him. Once again, without a second thought, the blonde knight forced his arms out from the pile and pressed down on the weight of the bones, pulling himself one by one. His teeth gritted together and fingertips finding the edges between the gaps, the teen threw his arm out again, feeling the free air above the leveling wave of the skeletons.

Air vibrated within his lungs; a roar leaving his throat. The area around him, including himself, begun to vibrate wildly to a point that the contours of their bodies and color had distorted in a blur-like motion. Jaune's hand grasped around something that felt like metal and chainmail, the unidentified source yanking him from his coffin and forcing him to stand upon an earthen ground suddenly. The blonde glanced at the area around him, no longer seen a room of bones like he did previously. Instead, he found himself in the center of a courtyard. Turning around, the large clocktower that he seen before…

Standing back in Beacon Academy, its grand arches and structure standing high and mighty as they always were.

Jaune flexed his wrist and hand momentarily, to check if he could feel his muscles again as the whole time, it felt as if his hands were fragile sticks and that grasping an object would feel like grabbing onto something a million times bigger than his. A sigh escaped his lips, the thumping within his heart beating back into its normal pace and sound coming back into his ears. It was another one of those nightmares… but a nightmare in which he received while loitering around randomly during the day while he was wide awake.

"Jaune? Are you okay?" A familiar voice belonging to a friendly, but quiet Faunus came from behind the blonde teen.

He turned around, scratching the back of his head with a nervous chuckle, "H-huh? Yeah. S-sorry Blake. Is there something you need?" He asked, as usually, she would be using the free day to read silently in the library like the regular bookworm she grown accustomed as. So what brought her out here now?

"N-no… not really. It's just that you were standing out here for the past ten minutes and literally did nothing but stare distantly. Considerably strange for someone to do that, and that I know you'd spend your weekend better rather than this." Her eyebrow perked up, arms crossed.

"O-oh. W-well, yeah you're right! I-I should totally do something, r-right? Ha-haha!" By dust, this was some pathetic performance he was putting up after zoning out. Jaune slowly proceeded to try and back away from Blake, oblivious to the fact that she was still paying attention to him.

"Jaune."

"H-huh? Yes?"

"Stop that. You're freaking me out."

"Sure. S-sorry. I'll just… back away—"

The Faunus's hand hooked onto his arm, stopping him, "What's the rush?" She asked with a curious look.

"I-I uh. Promised Ozpin I'd… let him have a talk with me!" He lied, somewhat, and mentally sighed to himself, 'Yeah! Now I can die slowly!' Fortunately, it was a fair enough excuse to make Blake let go of his arm eventually, his eyes catching just in time to notice the twitching of her bow. 'Is that bow a living thing or..?' He snapped out of his thoughts. Jaune looked down to Blake and sent off a nod before heading out, faking a retreat to Ozpin's office.

He felt confused, treading to the building that Ozpin's office had been, but why did his pace sound incredibly faster than normal? Stopping, the noise came a second late to stopping as well. Walking again, it sounded just the same like the previous time. So?

Jaune casually began to—

-burst into a sprint, the air around him becoming slightly distorted around his body as—dear Monty who knows how fast he was going?—he felt like his life was in danger yet again! He bursted through the doors to the according building, continuing his mad dash until tripping on an empty soda. That there, ladies and gentlemen, is the general Arc luck.

And so he found himself being stuck, pinned down by a cluster of boxes. When his eyes shot open from absorbing that information, his eyes met eye-contact with a golden pair staring down on him, their jaw slightly dropped and eyes placed within a serene sense of worry. Jaune could only stare back, numb within his legs, "… Oh, so you were coming to Ozpin's too, I guess..?"

"… Yep."

"You were following right behind me?"

"… Yep."

"You saw the whole thing, huh?"

"… Yep—"

* * *

><p>Ren and Nora sat outside at the garden of the academy, a blanket set down for them to plop down on. A peaceful day for Ren, in which also added a talking Nora narrating her recently bizzare dream that she had. A smile spread across his lips, listening somewhat to her story. The teen inhaled calmly, taking in the sights of the lotus pond in the distance.<p>

Before he could exhale, a familiar shout had filled the air, causing him to choke instead while Nora patted his back to help him out. Not familiar voice, 'shout'.

"FREAKING BLASTTOISE DAMMIT, MONTY!"

"Oh, that sounded like a wild Jaune~!" She perked in response, arms wrapped around Ren's neck.

Leaning his body forward to adjust the weight on his back comfortably, he sighed and fixated his sight to the direction of the shout, "… You may want to prepare a Master Ball for that." He quipped, arms stretched out in a brief yawn.

* * *

><p>He really wished he could've gotten away, but at the same time, he was somewhat curious as to what got her so intrigued into following him to Ozpin's. Feeling that if he asked, he'd be murdered by her because of her silent stature. If he pondered out loud about it, she'd kill him. Anything he considered, he'd feel like he'd be killed for without reason and she'd get away with it. Why did he feel so frightened? Now?<p>

Glancing over his shoulder to see Blake following alongside him, Blake returned the glance and blinked. Jaune looked back forward, continuing down the hall. Is there something she's trying to figure out about him that he isn't aware about? Or… worse?! She knows where he hides his supply of cookies and wants to blackmail him into doing something before giving it to Ruby?! Monty knows how much that little girl loves her cookies!

The blonde gulped, mentally breaking apart. Arriving at the double doors to the headmaster's office, Jaune took a deep breath, "Well uh. Thanks for accompanying me, so uh… catch you up lat—?"

"Let's go."

"Okay."

Blake turned the knob and creaked it open while Jaune stood aside.

'Wait, did I just-?'

The dawning of realization to him was already seconds later as they found themselves in the headmaster's office. The gears and cogs within the ground and ceiling turning as it clogged, making chiming noises while the seconds pass. The one they were looking for had been seated on the other side of the room. Sipping from their signature mug.

"Good morning, Ms. Belladona, Mr. Arc." He began with the proper formality, standing up from his seat and pacing himself around the desk, "I see you've made a fine recovery, Ms. Belladona. Have you spoken to him about his contribution to your well being already?"

Jaune blinked, his eyes paced between the headmaster and his friend, "Uh. What?" He stepped back slightly in confusion.

"I take that as a no," Ozpin leaned against the edge of his desk, Jaune and Blake treading to the center of the office room, "Mr. Arc, I've come to suspicion that what you've done in the field of battle against the humanoid Grimm has prevented the paralysis of Ms. Belladona."

The leader of JNPR pokerfaced, utterly written with confusion, making funny eye expressions with his face. A sigh left Ozpin, "We believe your contact with her has triggered some kind of…" The headmaster's mind digging for a word, it found a nearest term to describe it eventually in a matter of seconds, "… 'anti-ailment' process within her that forced her aura to respond to the toxin she inhaled yesterday, thus allowing her to get away with full function of her body. Which would've been half of her body becoming disabled permanently."

Standing idly, retaining his thoughts and considering on what to say, the blonde had flat-out seemed dead on the inside. Completely voided of the conversation at hand.

His eyes travelled to Ozpin and Blake silently, and he blinked.

"…"

They return their sights respectively, blinking back.

"..?"

Jaune's head cocked back slowly.

Their heads cocked back slowly.

"…"

Jaune's jaw had **dropped **before unleashing a horrified scream that shook the room, making the other two clap their hands over their ears and step back.

* * *

><p>You know, Weiss enjoyed her free days, using it to study in the quiet solitude of her room, hovering around her desk and reading through chapters of Remnant History. Atleast, it <em>was<em> quiet until a scream of a woman knocked her off her chair and forcing her to spring back up, opening her door and poking her head out to see if there was anyone in the hallway. There wasn't a single person.

Raising an eyebrow, she seemed utterly confused. Closing the door shut, fixing her hair and uniform, the heiress walked back to the desk, "Ruby!" She shouts as she sat back in her chair. "Did you hear a scream?"

Ruby's voice came out from behind the bathroom door, "Yeah! Was that you?"

"Don't be a dunce, of course not! Do you recognize the voice of the person though?"

"I… can't really put a finger on it."

* * *

><p>"YOU WANT ME TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH RANDOM PEOPLE THAT ARE INCREDIBLY SICK, DYING OR SICK?!"<p>

Behind a couch being used as a barricade, Blake and Ozpin ducked behind the piece of furniture while Jaune was panicking, seeming to spazm. Ozpin shouted back from the cover he was behind, "IT'S A THEORETICAL SUGGESTION TO SEE IF IT'S POSSIBLE!"

"JAUNE, PLEASE, CALM DOWN BEFORE-!" Blake ducked her head again, watching a yard stick fling over and stabbing into the adjacent wall, piercing and sticking. Ozpin eyed the projectile, "When did I have **that** in my office?"

A few more school supplies had flung itself across the air, placing itself into the wall and staying. "WHEN DID I HAVE **ALL **OF THOSE?!" Blake shook her head, waving it off and took a peek over the couch again to see Jaune in the corner, sitting in a fetal position with his back facing out, "Where… where did I go wrong..?" A dark fog loomed around him faintly.

"Headmaster, I think it's safe now."

"Oh, thank dust. I was hoping my wall wouldn't shatter into pieces." Dusting himself off, the aged hunter stood up and cautiously sidestepped to the blonde, "My suggestion is that you… 'try' it. I apologize if this makes you feel more incomprehendably more awkward than your life already is now or makes you feel like your utterly destroyed muscularity is going to be destroyed more, but what possibilities that we are currently hypothesizing may prove beneficial to help alter and accelerate the rate of recovery for the injured." The headmaster claimed, the signature mug in hand as he took another sip after the calming point had been reached.

"I-I…" Jaune begun, head bobbing up and down as he tried to think the words to string them into a sentence, "I can try but… how are we going to do this? Last I checked, there was no one in the infirmary at this time."

"Simple. We make one right here."

The two students turned their heads questionably, their fixated sights set upon the coffee drinking man. Blake's bow had twitched, incapable of discovering what Ozpin had meant until noticing the pair of ocean-blue eyes staring at her now, "Oh no you don't—"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Belladona, just for a minute or so."

"WHY ARE YOU SUCH A SADIST-?!"

_'__Thwap!'_

* * *

><p>"OH DUST, OZPIN WHAT DID YOU DO?!" The blonde panicked, flailing his arms around while being knelt down near Blake's unconscious figure on the ground, a cut set clean across the bridge of her nose diagonally.<p>

"I merely knocked her out and placed a light cut on her nose to test your possible abilities of aura with my cane. Hopefully if this works, the cut will heal, and we'll be able to go scotch-free while reasoning with Ms. Belladona."

"And… if not?"

"Then we abort thread and hope she doesn't remember anything while we think up a conclusion as to how she got the cut. It won't leave a scar, as I made sure of, since her aura should be unconsciously healing her while time passes."

"… Right—isn't that a lot of blood?"

"… Why yes. Yes it is."

"Uh. Headmaster? What are you doing?"

"Making sure Ms. Goodwitch doesn't find out about this."

* * *

><p>The usual table was filled with their occupants, the only issue is, ninety percent of those occupants had heeded their attention at a mark left on their local Faunus's nose, just crossing the bridge of her nose. Blake's bow had twitched, glancing up from her novel, "… It's unnerving that you're all staring at me."<p>

"Blakey, you got a killer-looking cut on your nose though! Makes you look like a really bad—" Yang glanced to her sister, who was also paying attention to her, "—bad looking kit-kat. The good kind." She chuckled nervously, not wanting to leave a bad model for her younger sister.

The 'B' of RWBY hissed softly, returning to the words on her novel, "Jaune said that a cog or something broke loose from the ceiling and ended up hitting me in the face." A sigh expelled from her, wondering how it even happened to begin with. That said, everyone then averted their attention to the blonde leader of Juniper, who was trying to calmly eat his pancakes in peace. Though, the poor dork could never ignore it and eventually started choking on a pancake slice. Pyrrha patted his back.

"Moving on, I never got the chance to thank you, Jaune." Ren took the turn to talk for the whole table, his magenta orbs focused on the food on his plate that he was busy cutting up.

"Huh? For what?" Jaune glanced over, his choking session coming to a stop.

"… For Nora." A presence of a sadness overloomed the Asian, causing even Blake to look up from her book with a twitch to her bow, indicating that this had intrigued her attention even further. Nora had even pulled down her smile to frown at her childhood friend/partner, reaching out her hand to grasp his sleeve softly, "Ren…"

The Asian put down his eating utensils, eyes trained on his food blankly, "I was panicking, even if I knew Nora would be fine no matter what. Scared because of what was occurring, the new appearance of the Grimm we faced. It felt as if it were a battlefield against real people, which made me sick in some way despite it being Grimm. To feel like we were fighting and killing actual people… it just didn't feel right," Ren's eyes close briefly for a few seconds until looking up and meeting Jaune's.

"I thank you, not only because you got us all out alive and safer than what would've happened, but because you made me see a different thing on the field of a warzone. The look you put in Pyrrha's eyes made me realize my goal, my intention for everyone I knew. A different world." A rare smirk spreaded thin on his lips as his half-lidded eyes returned to the food, the weights pressed off his shoulders and chest, "Truly, my faith rests soundly with you. I look forward for the future, and not the past."

The table became quiet at the end of the gunslinger's words, aside from the usual noise from the rest of the cafeteria's idle chatter. Jaune was left speechless, recalling the strength he received to take command of in the conflict. If he could call on it again… then such hopes laid on him could be held. He winced, his gloved hands clenching into fists beneath the table.

"If I may add… my faith can also be trusted to you, Jaune. Like it always has been since I've met you at the initiation." His partner included, taking up her napkin and folded it into a triangle. Placing it onto the center of it all, Ruby had come second to realizing what she was trying to do and also folded her napkin hastily, sometimes screwing up on sharpening the corners clumsily, but placed it next to Pyrrha's.

A giggle had left Nora, who elbowed her partner to do the same. With a sigh and grin, he complied. Placing it down with her shortly after. Weiss followed in, her pale fingers delicately working the edges of the napkin to her own unique way. Blake bookmarked her page, setting it down and taking up her napkin with a smile, folding and placing soon after with Yang. All of the seven out of eight pieces assembled, it made an incompleted straight-edged circle, the tips of the triangles pointing outwards to mimick a symbol for the sun.

Eyes trained on the remaining napkin of the blonde leader, Jaune had stared at what unfolded before him in their unity. Looking up to them, the realization stricken him with a sickness. A sickness that made him stronger morally. So this entailed for him to fold his napkin and place it down, forming the symbol of the Sun and creating one certain unity throughout the teams…

"Oh, it was a Sun!" Ruby beamed suddenly, ruining the moment and causing everyone to groan. "You **just** realized that?!" Her partner nearly yelled, having to be very affectionate for the moment until it was shot down by her to-be-four-year-partner. "Y-yeah… A-ahaha… sorry." The girl's head bowed down in a pout, her eyebrows knitting to make a saddened gloom to her emotions. Instead, Jaune found himself laughing softly in which sounded incredibly awkward and girly, audible enough for everyone to glance in confusion. Before they knew it, they had followed second in his ridiculous laugh. Only this time, they were laughing at him and not the leader of RWBY.

* * *

><p>As a man with short grayish hair stood adjacent from Ozpin's seat, the man was well suited enough to be a general by his according stance and stern look. Jaune sat across from the desk, keeping his mental state from breaking down his physical state. Sweat protruded down from his temple, hoping he wasn't in any trouble this time.<p>

"So you're the one who countered the forces of 'humanoid Grimm'…" The man next to Ozpin started, giving Jaune an off feel about the near-ominous presence. "Y-yes s-sir!" Jaune blurted out in response, feeling absolutely ashamed with himself at being incapable of retaining a calm composure.

Ozpin readjusted his spectacles on the bridge of his nose, the light gleaming from its lens, "Mr. Arc, this is General Ironwood of the Atlesian Army. He's come here personally to…" His words trailed off at the hand of the General's being raised, intercepting him, "Please, Headmaster, allow me." Ozpin rose a brow curiously and nodded, "You can call me by my name, James. We're quite familiar with eachother from the past."

"Formalities are to be kept, Headmaster Ozpin, especially when I'm in your property by our consent, it'd be rude of me." Ironwood's husk pupils trailed to Jaune, causing the poor child to nearly jump from his seat, "I was informed that 'humanoid Grimm' had appeared and may be a dire case if it were to be exploited publicly, or worse, be allowed to evolve. To be stopped and held back by a small team of nine against an army, however, piqued my interest and brought me here to see who led them. Supposedly to be you, Mr. Arc, you're rather young to be a brilliant strategist as Professor Port had claimed."

Jaune pulled out his collar a bit to get some air, giving a nervous nod, "I-we-the crew needed to b-be organized and thought out s-so we wouldn't risk losing anyone," He croaked mid-sentence, stopping and pulling himself together for a second. Just looking at the general made him cower mentally. "Someone had to keep them back while the bullhead was getting there…" His hand weaved to the back of his head to frazzle around his hair.

The general perked a brow at his response, sensing the stuttering and kept a sigh to himself to prevent the teen from believing he did something wrong. "If that is so… As much as it's astounding for a first-year student to keep all members of the conflict entirely safe and sound without serious harm, I don't wish to imply any offense," The general turned around to gaze at the courtyard's field. Sighting the various students there. "… but how is it that you took your time to consider the plan and execute it, rather than deciding quickly to deal with the battle swiftly and end it prior to the bullhead's evacuation?"

The headmaster kept his forehead in check with the back of his hand, staring down onto the gear-churning glass desk with his mug of coffee sitting aside, already cold from the passing time. True as it is that he could've been more than capable of thinking of so, that would've meant having more of a risk of losing a life or someone sustaining a serious injury for such a grave plan. The pros and cons of it equally proportional to eachother, but costing greatly in weight.

The response the general received was not an answer he had expected, the headmaster's face remaining stoic, but a gleam of lighted surprise hidden within his pupils while he rose his head. Seeing a courage-worn face of a familiar blonde teenager he never seen before from a former clumsy knight that everyone known.

"… That would mean risking a life of a friend and potential future hunter, **sir**." The hint of an unknown implied strict policy had been embedded within the ending of the sentence. This caused the general to twirl, filled with a sudden turn of shock from the change of intended events. "To sacrifice a potential hunter is something I **cannot **accept, and that all lives should be equally deserving to live and avoided from being lost at all times when possible." The knight stood up from his seat, fingers wrapped into fists and the narrowed azure eyes tinted within his pupils. **"I was told that to be a hunter meant protecting the people. I'm here to do just that."** The blonde's emotions placed into the boiling point of a thermometer, he took it upon himself to be individually dismissed, slamming open the double doors and departed, leaving the two aged men to stare at the closing doors that creaked eerily.

An eyebrow raised from the Headmaster, attention was averted to the shocked and speechless general standing idly with his hands behind his back. "For the first time in years… I've figured you would've had that face again eventually." Ozpin claimed, exhaling briefly while toying with the end of his cane just leaning against the side of his desk. "… I'm afraid that face has indeed come again." The general shook out of his daze, chuckling as he said such. "You have led bright pieces of the spectrum into your academy, I must admit… but let's hope they keep bright and stay within the visibility."

"I can agree no less." He took a sip from his mug again, blinking at the forgotten temperature of the coffee and set it aside with a frown.

* * *

><p>'Oh dust, I'm so dead.' Jaune thought, pacing himself around a trash can. Sure, he made himself feel pretty cool and all by leaving the office after finishing a neat saying he strung along in his head but NOW HE WAS SURE HE WAS GOING TO GET DROPPED, EXPELLED OR BEATEN UP for disciplinary misconduct or worse! Why did he do this?! He's too young to die like this!<p>

He failed to notice Yang passing by, the blonde brawler stopping and staring at him skeptically. She decided to do the most helpful thing to help out a dear friend alright, "Yo, Vomit Boy, I guess you and Pyrrha are finally having a kid, huh?" Yang grinned, placing her hands on her hips.

'Dear Monty no.' The boy froze, twirling around to face Yang. By the look of his pale, deathly face, it caused Yang to inch away with a jump. "Woah, holy dust, what happened to your face?!"

"Listen, Yang, me and Pyrrha aren't having a kid, there's nothing wrong with my face, and I'M ON THE VERGE OF BREAKING BECAUSE I JUST DITCHED A GENERAL AND THE HEADMASTER WITHOUT PERMISSION! I'M GOING TO GET KILLED FOR HIGH DEGREES OF DISRESPECT TO HIGHER AUTHORITIES!" Especially from an Atlesian General. Sweat was pouring down from Jaune's face at this point. Jaune paused for the moment, his pale expression becoming cold and lifeless as he dropped to the floor flatly on his front.

Yang hovered over, her head and lushious blonde hair sticking out the most. The lilac pair of eyes blinked, feeling sympathetic for the man, but at the same time, utterly laughing at his corpse, "… So uh. I take that as a no."

"…" A long sigh mumbled from the floor in which Jaune's face had glued itself to, "… Dammit Yang."

* * *

><p>"Weiss!" The red-cloaked girl shouted out to her partner, waving while running across the courtyard to reach her. The heiress sighed, rubbing her forehead with her fingers and turned her head, "What?!"<p>

"Did you see all the cool ships outside?! They're literally everywhere!" Ruby beamed, seeming entirely happy about it rather than afraid. "I think they're your dad's!" Welp. Goodbye, Ruby. Say hello to the disbelieving heiress. Rather than responding, Weiss dragged Ruby by the hood of her cloak to see where these 'ships' lay about. It's amazing how tough the fabric of her cape is.

She stopped the instant she noticed the massive Atlesian ship hovering in the sky when turning the corner, dropping the reaper and causing her to 'splat' against the ground. Trying… just… trying to absorb information and think of possible ways of why they were here was just mind blowing for her. The heiress's mouth opened like a koi fish, she recognized an Atlesian ship when she saw one because her company always provided support in their projects.

"… Ruby."

"Weiss?"

"Call everyone here. Now."

"But why do I have to-?"

"DO IT, RUBY!"

* * *

><p>Contemplating on how to leave the academy without being noticed, he failed to find methods of getting away safe and discreetly. That would mean taking an airship to Vale, in which there's plenty of other students also taking the ferry to get there. Then there's going into the forests, which he surely can't survive from at his level of skill, "Gah! Why does everything have to be so difficult?!"<p>

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ren rounded the corner, grinning to the fearless leader of JNPR. Finding himself a spot on the opposite end of the bench from Jaune, he sat in a laxed position and took in the surrounding again as he usually did to find some 'inner peace'.

"O-oh, hi Ren. I uh… was thinking about opening an ice cream store in Vale… you know?" Dropping lying level into the negatives. "A-always wanted to open one. They seem so nice and safe!" Dipping past negatives.

"… Uhuh." Dear Monty, Ren has the most serious 'what the hell did I just hear?' face Jaune's ever seen. Eventually, the blonde sighed.

"I had a stupid reason to leave the Headmaster and a General, just because he asked me a question and I let my emotions get the best of me. I know he didn't mean any offense, but I can figure out that I need to work on that now…"

Ren listened in to his leader silently, gaze set blank as—

Wait.

Hold up a minute.

'Did he say..?' "Did you say a General?" The gunslinger asked, worry spreaded on his countenance.

"Uh… yeah, why?" The blue orbs glanced over, raising an eyebrow to the question

.

"… One minute." Slightly adjusting himself on the bench to grab his Scroll from his pocket, his fingers slid left and right on the screen, eventually entering call with Nora, "You need to drop all the weapons now. Those ships came with a General that Jaune met. He's alive thankfully." The sound of metal clanging against the ground along with more seconding it was heard through the speakers. "… You were planning to infiltrate a ship, weren't you?"

"N-NO..! I-I'd totally would've gotten one anyways if I ever had the chance to and the only reason why I'd totally infiltrate one of the ships is for—"

"Nora."

"Yes. I was planning to infiltrate a ship." Nora deadpanned, the two males sensing a pokerface through the screen.

"Then don't. Please, for my sanity." Ren rubbed his temple in mental pain. "See you later, Nora."

"Bye, Renny~!"

Ending the call, Ren laid back against the bench. His head slowly turned to notice Jaune staring at him. "What?"

"The general brought **ships **with him?"

"… Yes. I thought you were aware about this—" A shadow overloomed them, both looking up to see the hovering Atlesian ship above their heads and paused. "Jaune."

"Y-yes?"

"You might want to ask the General about the ships before someone starts panicking."

"AAAAAHHH! ALIEN INVASION! EVERYONE RUN!" A Faunus with gray hair and mouse ears had yelled from the background.

"Welp, there it goes." The Asian sighed, taking out his scroll again and swapped through a movie video he downloaded onto it. Finding a clip he wanted to see when fast forwarding, he held it out infront of him and Jaune horizontally, playing an old time comedy of Tom & Jerry. As they both watched, they became oblivious to the horrific amounts of screaming and running spread across the courtyard.

'Yeeeow!' The video had played, making both of them chuckle.

Stopping the video and pocketing it away, the two continued to lay back against the bench in the midst of chaos. Jaune nodded his head, giving off a minor shrug, "The good times… I'll take this as a cue to talk to the general."

"You do that." Ren replied monotonely, gazing at the belly of the Atlesian ship. Not even bothering to look, Jaune had gotten up and walked between the gaps of the running riot. Continuing to lay back, Ren closed his eye lids and drifted off to a resting moment. His blonde friend was walking to the double doors of the Headmaster's building in the background.

"Oof!" A bunny eared Faunus, Velvet, had tumbled into Jaune, knocking them both over, just a foot away from the door.

"The good times indeed."

* * *

><p>"Is it truly necessary to bring in nearly the entire Atlesian army here?" Ozpin asked curiously, peering to the horizon of Atlesian ships.<p>

"Humanoid Grimm aren't something to toy with lightly if the report is true, Ozpin. We aren't even first-hand experienced in battle with them. The only team to go out, face them, come back all alive and report is were the nine people that came back to Beacon after fighting a full army of them!"

"If that is so, then we have someone to thank for that and that we need to create, if possible, duplications of these Humanoid Grimm to train others and know how it is to fight them. These foes prove significantly different from normal Grimm." The new voice had stated, one of which both Ozpin and Ironwood had been familiar with. Glynda Goodwitch entered through the double doors, her scroll in hand, "The Council has assigned these kind of Grimm a new name, known as Decimators."

The woman's hand flicked across her scroll, projecting a 3D holographic image in the center of the room as the lights faded. Soon, the grid-lines curved to form a body of a 'Decimator', the body structure being exactly aligned with a Human's own or a Faunus's, disregarding the bones that surrounded their contours like armor and the various helmets they donned.

"A Decimator is believed to be like a person's own anatomy, only difference is that they're Grimm and protrude bone as armoring. They can use their husks to make their own weapons from various sorts. So far, as Ms. Rose had informed me, their ability to create rifles and weapons. Luckily, none as far as dangerous as the mecha-shift weapons our students wield."

"To think that the Grimm would evolve to this revolutionary level… this is most concerning." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee, circling around the hologram. Ironwood also took his own examination of the projection, hands firmed into grips of fists. This situation is becoming more concerning as the time passes without end. Glynda had continued, scroll swiping through various channels of her database, "The only thing that could get us critical and valuable information would be pre-conflicted hunters scouting the region for information. But that would mean the nine out of hundreds being sent out to gather the info, acknowledging the risk of their life. We can't possibly—"

The double doors creaked into an open again, gathering the attention of the three grown individuals while a blonde and scraggly teen had walked into the room, shutting the doors quietly behind him, "I volunteer my team to do so." The blonde-haired knight placed, arms crossing as he came to a stand infront of the projection. Well-aware that the three grown hunters were skeptical about his sudden entry into the conversation. The headmaster had smirked, a nod gestured to him, "… I will vouch."

Glynda shot him a look, "This is a hunter in training as we speak, Ozpin, we can't just rely on him to get information about these Decimators!" The General of Atlas pondered about the decision, arms crossed now, "You already sound like a leader as it is, young man. If your headmaster will vouch for you and your team, then I will trust that he's made the right decision."

"Oh not you too, James!"

Jaune merely nodded, the true confidence buried in the colors of his pupils, "A-as much as I know the dangers, watching others go in my place only worries me. They don't know what they're capable of, but I do." He confirms. Professor Goodwitch gave an uneasy glance to the young teen standing next to her.

"… Very well." The headmaster said, their eyelids shut in thought. "As of right now, I am going to test your abilities to determine whether or not you're capable of running recon and if you're able to counter them if you end up in a conflict." Jaune froze for a moment. Wait, test his abilities? Crap! He didn't think of THAT part!

"Be prepared, young man."

The blonde knight stood up straight, now realizing the mistake of involving himself. Why didn't he think before doing?!

"I-I won't fail you, sir!"

* * *

><p>"How is it that this hunter is failing at every test we're sending at him?" General Ironwood asked, a mask of entire disbelief put on. Glynda had sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "He's… not good at combat, nor most of his physical activities. Headmaster Ozpin watched silently, eyeing the performance of the first anti-Decimator fighter.<p>

'He lacks stamina, even strength or technique to fight properly. I was aware enough that his transcripts were forged from the beginning, but… he's not even capable of taking down a level three training drone?'

Blinking out of his thoughts, the three grown-ups stepped out of the way of a human-projectile that flew and slammed into the wall behind them, which slowly slid off and thumped against the ground with a groan.

"… We once had a robot that was programmed to lose at everything terribly, but even that managed to rise up and kill three students before we managed to destroy it." Goodwitch claimed, earning herself a glare from Ozpin. "… Hm," Ironwood began. "Let's try long-ranged tests to evaluate his ranged performance."

The woman replied to him briefly, already turning around and inputting the data into her scroll, "He doesn't use ranged weaponry, despite being a hunter. He uses Crocea Mors, his family heirloom, despite being requested multiple times to keep atleast a handgun on him for precaution." Jaune recovered from his knocking, staggering to get up and return to the field. Ironwood rose an eyebrow, watching the teen brush past them, "He's persistent… We know how this will end. End the session, we'll move onto the next test eitherway."

Gaining a nod from Goodwitch, she terminated the current test and moved on.

The handgun shook in his hands, despite holding it the proper way, the poor boy seemed like he was going to drop it any second if a bird had simply slapped him with a wing. The target set fifteen meters away, another was set twenty, and the third at thirty. Firing almost the entire clip rapidly, the bullets never found their targets. By the end of the entire clip being wasted, the slide of the gun slammed into his face, thus knocking him out cold.

Pokerfaces placed onto their faces, the observers could only mentally grunt at the utter failure of this test. Never have they seen someone being knocked out by their own gun that they wielded. Of course, aside from the drone that was meant for failure.

The next test consisted of their training chamber, where the space was considerably enough for a game of professional football. On one side, there was Jaune, surrounded by a group of seven Atlesian drones. The opposite side of the field housing an equal amount of hologram Decimators. General Ironwood standing by Jaune's side, he briefly explained what the drones were equipped with to get him acquainted, "These drones are none other than Atlesian security bots. They're supplied with regular and incendiary machine guns, volatile dust vials and combat blades. These bots are capable of following your vocal commands and acknowledging checkpoints made of the map on your scroll. Do your best."

Jaune's ear twitched, the lack of emphasis of the last three words said to him. As Ironwood walked away, he couldn't help but bow his head and look down, scowling and berating himself again. 'No, Jaune… think. Think well, try to remember what got you moving when 'that' happened.' He recalled the battle of Jugunges Plains and the forest.

Holographic objects digitalized across the entire field, implemented for cover from bullets or other long-ranged attacks. His teeth grit together, head raised from his mental scoldings, the depthed eyes glared at the field, causing the headmaster and his assistant to jump slightly when seeing the glare look directly at them through their scrolls. The general didn't let this go unnoticed, eyebrow perked as he took a look at his own scroll for an overview observation.

**"****Battle begin."**

The knight refused to draw his weapons, using his vision as his weapon in exchange.

_The white knight raises their head, attention focused to the fist before them._

Raising his hand,/_raising their hand,_/the arm shot outwards in direction of his opponents. /_a gauntleted arm lowered, aimed at the oncoming fist._

The Decimators on the other side start to run behind their cover, their holographic exoskeletons morphing into long-ranged weapons, akin to the Grimm's ability in Jugunges. A shadow overloomed the blonde's eyes, hiding it from the light as his lips begun to move, "All command: switch to secondary long-ranged weapons. Focus fire on marked rocks A and B."

The General heard the command through the device in hand, unphased by the strange order.

"Swap: Regular bullets to incendiary ammunitions. Drones 1 and 5, refrain from attacking and move to cover points F and E. Remaining drones, remain in your respective cover and fire, accurately or not from the rocks."

The complex orders given by the teen had puzzled Ms. Goodwitch, who was constantly checking each of the cameras for different perspectives, unable to see the reasoning behind his prompt orders.

Holographic Decimators focused their fire on the ones returning the firing range, as unbeknownst to them, two drones were circling the entire field and gone unnoticed. The bullets fired at the marked rocks had ricocheted, bouncing off the rocks and hitting another surface, flaming trails being left behind against the ground and holographic objects. Making a minor flame aligning around the entire patch of Decimators. Jaune remained standing, unmoved from his location.

"He's not going to enter the battle himself?" Ironwood questioned, expecting an answer from his old-time friend. The green-scarfed character rested his hands on the head of his cane, pausing momentarily and attempting to soak up the details. That was, until his eyes caught onto the dust vials on the back of the Atlesian drones. "He doesn't need to. He never needed to." Gaining the confused glances of both of his friends, he returned to the screen with a smile. "You truly are the odd one out of the rest of the uncollided colors…"

Jaune snapped his fingers, the confidence in his eyes shining brightly, a smug grin playing on his mouth. "Checkmate! Encircled drones, commence firing attack from behind. Returning fire drones, align a vial throw on the corners of the flaming trail!"

Following suite, the drones reached for the back of their metallic belts, unmagnetizing one of their vials and arcing a throw across the entire field to precisely land onto the remaining flames left by the incendiary bullets. Allowing the content to pour out and become smothered by the burning element, eventually exploding into a heavy cloud of smog that spiked up into the air. Two drones appeared behind the entire line of defense owned by the Decimators, assaulting the smog relentlessly with bullets. Off-course bullets had flung to the other side of the field, the cease-fire drones having already taken cover while the rest of the bullets barely missed the stand-still teen, who was unphased entirely by the danger of being shot by his own allies.

The explosions taken place, it did shake up the training facility quite a bit for everyone within it to try and regain their stability. Waiting for the smog to clear up, the drones promptly regrouped on command and advanced in a linear formation in precaution to the Decimators' last known positions with Jaune following behind in a calm walk. The team stopping by the raise of a hand, the blonde turned around and begun walking away, whispering softly, "I win."

The cameras zooming into the damage, they soon spotted eight fallen holographic bodies of humanoid Grimm with collateral damage done to them. Either holographic shrapnels of the environment dug into them, or bullets charred and drilled inside, through their slightly transparent bodies. Awestruck, General Ironwood, Headmaster Ozpin, Assistant Goodwitch, they all were dumbfounded by the success. At the top right of the screen had recorded the time that the session had taken up.

It read two minutes and thirteen seconds.

* * *

><p>"This teen proves to have an abundant amount of knowledge and tactics for combat. Despite failing at two physical tests—"<p>

"Ow."

"—the victory of which was obtained within a matter of two minutes is astounding! Especially against a new type of enemy that we're inevitably going to face! The young man should be in Atlas, taking the specialized classes for honored leaders!" General Ironwood stood straight at the opposite side of the desk with Jaune.

With a sigh, the headmaster of Beacon took another sip of coffee, "That should be something Mr. Arc should decide. Also considering the fact that humanoid Grimm, Decimators, are also beginning to appear at all corners of Remnant. The Council has no choice but to announce their appearance and do their best to keep people within the kingdom of Vale calm. Even other kingdoms are beginning to do so, panic being kept to a minimum."

"Wait, what?!" Jaune had interjected, alarming the two speaking gentlemen. Ozpin rose a hand to Glynda, who rose another holographic projection of the world and the marked borders of each individual kingdom. "This is a map of Remnant from exactly three days ago. The map clean of Decimators. Observe." She commanded of the teen, allowing the digital clock above the map to accelerate. Within a matter of seconds, the entire map was being filled in by red marks dotted along the black surfaces. Bulges of red begun to appear on various regions around the kingdoms, some even managing to pop up just within the border walls.

"Villages and cities beyond kingdom walls were entirely annihilated with few survivors. When counter-defenses were sent at their distress calls, they were killed, also with few survivors. They are safe now, but some now have entered tragic trauma damage or have gone locally insane by the intoxications of defeated Decimators. Some have claimed that they have sighted Decimators riding the creatures of Grimm in cooperation, fluently working together in perfect synchronization."

Jaune grimaced with the General, the leather glove in hand stretching audibly from the amount of pressure his fingers were pressuring into them. "… There has been a successful counter other than yours, Jaune. A commander known as Trista Everborn has lead a counter at a hypothesized location of attack. The first publicly-known successful counter, although a few deaths taken as sacrifice to save the people." The map marked blue for Commander Everborn's counter-attack near Vacuo. "When the Council begun conference with other councils, they had been told of your first hidden success with no deaths or serious injuries. She was informed of you immediately after her victory, as she personally wishes to see you whenever time can be spared."

He gulped nervously, the title 'Commander' wasn't given so easily in the world of Remnant. By the sound of it, he didn't feel very comfortable given the fact that he was eventually exploited to public by the time. Professor Goodwitch saw the complication in his eyes and shook his shoulder lightly, "Don't worry, no one in Vale will know about you yet since the Council has agreed to keep you low on radars. Though you won't be as lucky if you decide to travel to any other kingdom." He exhaled in relief.

"Granted that the major crisis at hand is largely consistent of Decimators, we have another issue at hand," Ozpin said, folding his hands together. "We will need all the help we can get, which means uniting Vale altogether without issue. You know what's already happening out there, Mr. Arc. Discrimination against the Faunus, riots of the White Fang, major crimes to be performed by none other than well reknowned crime lords, eavesdroppers." The leader of JNPR stared absentmindedly at the map, considering all of the major issues that he—"Wait." Did he say eavesdroppers?

As if on cue, the doors flung open, allowing seventeen individuals to flop onto the floor in a dogpile.

Team RWBY, Team [J]NPR, Team CFVY, Team SSSN, Professors Oobleck and Port. They all look up with nervous chuckles, a black and white dog, Zwei, jumping to the top of the pile and barking happily. "KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME!" Blake hissed, clutching onto Yang tightly. Yang bursted out laughing, "Hahah! Get it? 'Dog' pile?" Everyone else groaned.

Professor Goodwitch stared down the remaining two professors, a murderous gleam in her eyes, "Out of all people, I did not expect you two to be so rudely listening." Professor Oobleck took a minute to think, "It was their idea."

"WHAT?!" Ruby begun her counter, "It was clearly Ren's idea!"

**"HOW?!"**

"Yep. Totally him." Coco added in, causing everyone else to blame it on the unfortunate gunslinger, who slammed his forehead against the ground and cracking it. General Ironwood, Headmaster Ozpin and Jaune walked up next to the fallen characters, their arms crossed and sinister eyebrows perked. A faint shadow looming their heads, bringing an eerie presence to all of them. Jaune took the words right out of their mouths.

"So… someone tell me how this happened."

* * *

><p>"Uh, Velvet, why'd you bring us here?" Team CFVY pressed their ears against the closed doors, listening keenly as they heard chattering activity. "I heard something about humanoid Grimm," The Faunus replied, unaware of her ears tickling the chin of her partner. "It sounds like… Jaune talking with three other people."<p>

Fox's head slightly tilted, "You mean that dorky-looking guy who decided to get beaten down by Cardin in order to help you out?"

Coco chuckled at that. Velvet scowled at him, narrowing her eyes, "H-he's not dorky-looking!" She felt the hand of Yatsuhashi patting her head, "I respect your mating decisions."

"Wha-!"

"Uh, what are you guys doing?" Ruby had come up with Weiss, who was staring at them skeptically. A dog popped out of her hoodie, also watching at the amusing play. Coco held up an index finger to her lips, "Shh, we're trying to listen into Jaune's conversation-" This immediately caused the two bystanders to join the charade, also pressing their ears against the double doors with Ruby and Velvet being forced to crouch in order to have space to listen.

"Hey, you should've called us too if we were going to have a group huddle!" Sun joked, walking up behind the crowd of people hovering around the door. Team SSSN had also tagged along for the hell of it, though, seeming a bit off when they saw what everyone was doing with ears pressed against the doors. "What are you guys—?" Neptune dragged in, stopping when he heard a familiar voice.

"Wait, what?!"

Blake and her partner, Yang, came across an amusing sight of ten people trying to huddle around the door with ears pressed against it. Seeing how her sister and the heiress were also in it, Yang turned to Blake, "What are they doing?"

"They… seem to be listening in on the Headmaster's conversation with someone?"

Her bow had twitched. Yang had looked at the bow, then Blake, who had her eyes widened in what seemed to be shock, "Oh, I know you heard something from here alright."

Team [J]NPR had come in, stopping in place when they saw a cluster of people leaning against eachother or wedged in between to listen to… a door? Yang turned her head to notice the new arrivals. "Yang? What's going on?" Pyrrha asked as she approached, only to be understanding one word that her responder mouthed. 'Jaune'.

In that instant, Pyrrha was pulled in to listen intently as well, leaving Nora and Ren to stand aside with flabbergasted expressions. When they heard chattering between two masculine voices, Nora had spun around and saw Professor Oobleck and Professor Port, whose expressions were the same as theirs. Ren gave them a silent shrug, making Professor Oobleck talk with his signature sonic-speed sentences, "I am glad to know that the Faunus and Human species are well cooperating together to perform a single task, however, be aware that it is impudently rude to—"

Ruby perked up suddenly, "That sounds like General Ironwood!"

The professors joined in, leaving Nora and Ren. Ren had sighed, crossing his arms and shaking his head. Nora stared at him quietly, and when Ren looked up to meet her eye level, a large frown crossed his lips and backed away slowly—

Ren soon found himself pokerfacing, ear pressing against the door with the sixteen others—oh Monty—listening to a conversation behind double doors for who-knows-what-dust-topics—"- as she personally wishes to see you whenever time can be spared." Sounds like a wedding arrangement.

Oh okay. He can dig this.

* * *

><p>The four individuals that were standing pinched the bridge of their noses, trying to think while contemplating on what to do next. "Well… atleast they know about the Decimators now rather than eventually." Glynda commented, the hint of frustration still in her tone.<p>

"True… it does save us the ears to speak into." The headmaster admitted while everyone started getting back up. Going back to his chair, he sat down and sipped from his mug of coffee, then setting it down and putting something through careful consideration mentally. After a few passing moments of silence, he placed his scroll onto his desk and projected a different kind of holographic screen that replaced Glynda's.

"Starting from this day, these four teams will be jointed together for the remainder of the time until decided disbandment, monitored and assisted by Professors Oobleck and Port. I will sponsor this group of teams, a 'Unison', if you will." As everyone was about to send out their reactions in blusters, Ozpin rose a hand to seize them of their act. "Together, you will perform tasks that are assigned to you by your main leader or me. In this assigned unofficial unison, your unison will be known as the First Ascended Legacies."

"Uh, H-headmaster, where and who is the main leader of the 'Unison'?" Neptune pokerfaced as hard as he could, nearly shaking at the sudden announcement of their combination. At the question, they all remained frozen in place.

The corner of his lips curved up into a grin.

"That main leader would be within this room as of right now."

"Jaune Arc."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry guys, early update. Or, well... you're welcome? No idea. Quack. Still, thanks for tuning in, but this update came in early because of other plans needing to be performed and who-knows-what's-happening. This had alot of words, my count says nearly 9.5k, so sorry guys if you don't want to read that much. [ or if you did, you're welcome..? Again? ] That's enough of me. fanfictionPenguin aborting thread!<strong>

**[ Next Update: 1/24-25/2015 || ?AM/PM EST ]**

_**"Welcome to the Unison."**_


	7. Welcome to the Unison

**Welcome to the Unison**

The entire room was spacious, enough to be considered a consistent 'Teacher's Lounge' or a 'Café'. On one side was the long desk that stretched from one end of the room to the mid-point of the center of the wall, the countertop clean of anything with wooden stools aligned on the outside of it. Just behind the counter, empty shelves of what could be placed up there along with a first-aid box, fire hydrant and basic supplies. The other half that made up the wall's furniture was the fireplace and classical jukebox. Surrounded by an alignment of cushions and large rounded coffee table that Coco seemed to already take a liking to.

Bookcases filled an entire vacant wall, the other being the way to the bathrooms, the kitchen area, and tables with lamps already positioned ontop, making up 75% of the lighting within the neatly lighted room that was slightly darkened for its mature taste. His foot's weight shifted a light creak to come out of the dark-wooden flooring, seeming to be previously waxed and cleaned. The now twenty-one individuals stood within the spacious room that comfortably fit them all, despite their abundant amount of people. The center held up most of the empty space, just the space along the walls were occupied.

"It's been a while since I've used this room for anything." Ozpin spoke, gathering the attention of the awestruck examiners, "This room will be at your responsibility, keep it as you would keep your home and use it well. Other rooms like this are placed strategically around the school, but you will be the first formed Unison of Beacon. You will prove for your own supplies of this room and so forth, since I will not be taking responsibility of being a caretaker."

As he spoke, Jaune's attention was caught to a spiral helicase railing just in one corner of the room that sat adjacently by a hidden doorway of the wall. While everyone's attention had been drawn to the speaker, he stepped into the open doorway, watching it close behind him quietly with a 'click'. Great. He'll have to find a way out later.

The blonde travelled up the steps of the helicase, hand sliding smoothly off the wooden detailed railing. At the top of the steps, his eyes widened at the office-fit sized secondary room. Where more bookshelves were placed along one wall, a regal office desk added with its lamp, a stereo on a counter next to the desk, and a decently sized couch for atleast three people. Walking to the standing lamp, he dimmed the light to gain more sighting of the discreet room. The ceiling fan lacked a switch for turning on a lightbulb, but the lamp compensated for the lack.

He pulled back the comfortable cushion seat with wheels, sitting on it and then rolling forward to adjust himself with the desk. Noting the four drawers included with it and the classical quill in the ink jar. Who uses feather quills to write these days? Taking a deep breath, he rests his arms on the flat top and relaxed…

* * *

><p><em>The white knight sat idly within their chair, quill in hand and ragged parchment set on the desk. As they begun to write, the neat cursive strung along until requiring another retip of ink, leaving a scratching noise when it had run out. Setting the quill back into its place after writing for a few minutes, the knight rose their head to the vacantly blank wall feet infront of the desk. Standing up, the chair slid back for them to move.<em>

_Placing a palm gently upon the wall's lining, pressing forward on the wall gently and watched the walls folded away like a brick wall rebuilding itself to form a perfect doorway to go through. The figure stepped through, allowing the hidden access to close itself shut and glanced below from the small balcony point. Seven individuals, clad in different attire and born with different faces of courage, stare up at the knight. The unreplacable warmth filing the room as a light faded brightly off their bodies, blinding the vision._

* * *

><p>"Pyrrha, what's wrong?" Her male teammate asked softly, worried of her concerned expression.<p>

"I… where's Jaune? I haven't seen him around the room." Little did she know that she was audible enough for everyone to hear, causing Ozpin to stop in the midst of his talk and took his own glance around the room, realizing that she had a point.

"What's up?" The source of the voice came from feet above their heads with Jaune standing on a small railed platform ledge sticking out of the wall. His poise was considerably his curiousity, with a fist propping up his head and his free arm lazily slung over the railing as he hunched over.

Yang chuckled, "You." The crowd took a glance at Yang, earning a few chuckles from Nora, Ruby and Port. "How did you get up there?" Sun tilted to the right, scratching the side of his head. "I'll explain later. But what do you guys think of the place so far?"

The hyperactive member of JNPR jumped, raising a hand, "Ooh, ooh! It's super-dally-awesome-cool! Now I can have Ren make me pancakes whenever I want!" Most of the people snickered, only leaving Ren to be the one sighing regrettably. "Remember that you all will be responsible for this place, and this mostly goes as of importance to Jaune, that you will have things to assign your Unison if it's required. You all are aware of the humanoid Grimm now, and that Team Coffee and Sun should've been fully informed of it by Ms. Goodwitch."

Her eye was twitching, but no matter. Ozpin resumed, "Know that if you need to contact me or General Ironwood, there's a built-in scroll to the desk 'in there'." Jaune quickly caught on, nodding to the headmaster. "For now, I will be off to attend my matters. You all enjoy the day, but remember that you still have classes." Receiving goodbyes before he left, Glynda walked beside him, sending a glare to everyone to ensure that everyone wouldn't be exempted from classes all the time. Ironwood went third, and then Port and Oobleck.

Team SSSN was the first to hit back into the cushions near the fireplace, four relieving groans expelling from their lungs as they kicked back. "Too much walking, kills me slowly." Their leader complained, earning a fist-bump from Sage. Weiss, Pyrrha and Ren hovered to the bar-counter, glancing to the empty shelves and medical supply box. Considering of what to put up there in order to keep it from looking so dull. Blake took a marveled sight at the bookcases, each one filled to the gap. Of course the bookworm would do that.

Yang, Velvet, Coco and Yatsuhashi were trying to stop Nora and Ruby from fighting over the cookies in the kitchen. Sadly, this left Fox to wonder where the hell he was while the poor blind guy stood around awkwardly before Coco could come over and drag him by the arm. "This place is great." Scarlet of SSSN admitted, gaining a few nods from his team members.

Pyrrha walked to the center of the room, her arms crossed as she peered up to Jaune like the time at the initiation when Milo had pinned Jaune to the tree by his hoodie, "So… what is it you'll have us do, main commander?" The team… no, Unison, known as the First Ascended Legacies, stared up to their leader.

The leader took a deep breath, feeling the weight of responsibility placed onto his shoulders. Raising his head to look at the blank ceiling a few feet above his head, he pondered of the course of action. Never has he felt like he'd lead a group this big, nor speak presentively. He was just the resident goofball everyone in Beacon knew.

"…" A smile perched on his lips, looking back down with his ocean blue orbs to stare down upon everyone from his platform, "B-before we can get this place to feel comfortable like home…" He started weakly, still trying to get over his fear of public speaking, "I will appoint the sub-leaders in case if it's necessary. Coco, leader of team Coffee. Sun Wukong, leader of team Sun—well that's familiarizing." Chuckles filled the room again, "Ruby of team Ruby—wow okay." The room slowly morphed their chuckles in bursts of laughter, "Then there's Pyrrha Nikos, partner of the leader of team Juniper."

Pyrrha blinked, eyes slightly widened from her selection. Nora gave her a fist-bump on the shoulder, cheering in applaud, "Nice job! Have fun, co-fearless leader!" Ren had nodded in approval in exchange of being verbal.

"The 'Fall' in short for First Ascended Legacies, can still expand in the amount of teams or people we bring in here, as Ozpin's told me. If there's recommendations for recruiting people into the Unison, you can take it to me and I'll consider it. I-I can expect that you keep this place as homely as possible a-and that… you can follow my orders accordingly when it comes to it."

Weiss formally risen her hand before prompting a question, "I believe all of us should have our duties in making this place comfortable." She glared at Coco, who smiled in return, "Don't worry, sweetie, I'm not going to dump coffee on you again." The heiress returned to Jaune, "So can I have the consent to assign who does what when it comes to this place?"

Staring with somewhat surprise, Jaune had genuinely smiled, chuckling suddenly to the heiress's surpise. "Sure, Snow Angel." Putting a red streak across her face, she looked away and sighed, attempting to brush it off. Getting back into business, he finally felt comfortable with the Unison and exhaled peacefully.

"Oh cool!" Nora pulled a little lever she found near the bookcase, pulling it and triggering a wall's surface to open up, revealing a sight-seeing window. Displaying a higher overview of Beacon overall from where they were with Ruby pressing her face against the glass, addicted to the view seemingly. Sun suddenly pumped his arms up into the air, "Wait, we gotta name our headquarters!"

Blake glared down upon Sun from her book, causing him to flinch. "I-I like the idea…" Velvet peeked around the corner from the kitchen door, "If… you all don't mind t-that is." Coco rounded that corner to come out of the kitchen and into view, placing her hands on her hips and posed, "I vouch for that. How about it? I vote for the name 'Vermillion Quarter' for the neat color this place has to it." Scarlet shot a hand up, "HELL YEAH! VERMILLION!" From the corner of Jaune's peripheral, Ruby's arm also shot up.

Chuckling, he nods, "We'll call this place Vermillion Quarters for now until we can think of an official name-"

"-Woo!"

"—Until then, I'll be making plans. I think Sun and Coco's team has some classes to prepare for tomorrow anyways since Ruby and my team is excused for another two days due to some complications."

"Which gives us some time to get the place nice and neat." Weiss added in.

"That too. Until then, see you guys later."

* * *

><p><span><strong>[ Next Chapter: ]<strong>

_**The Legacies Left Behind III**_


	8. The Legacies Left Behind III

**The Legacies Left Behind III**

_The massive arm had froze, the fist that swung toward the two targets having to be completely halted by the palm of the miniscule knight compared to its size. The white knight turned to face the Reaper that stood behind them. Without a gesture, the Reaper retreated back to the main group of fighters, vanishing in the mere blink of an eye to leave a trail of rose petals. Once the act was done, the knight adjusted their palm to move off to the side as if shrugging a pellet off by whacking it aside. The fist that once tried to harm the knight had flung to the side, colliding into the ground instead and sinking into the soil from the powerful force._

_It caused the Centaur Giant to relent, staggering on its legs and rummaging an earthquake in its struggle. Before it could account for what it had seen, the knight within gleaming white armor had stood on its stomach, gravity failing to take them back down with perfected stability. The white knight's vision faced up to the skies and to the giant's bone-armored head. It begun recovering its balance, the wings outstretching yet again to generate needling pins to wipe the knight off. Black matter orbs sprouted from the Centaur's body, birthing Beowolves and Nevermores that directly dove straight for the white knight._

_So they begun to scale up the body of the titan, the heavy clanging of metal constantly grinding against eachother from the knight's armor plates and their golden scarf flapping wildly against the resistance. The hundreds of generated Beowolves dropped down from the air to meet the opposing knight, the first one clawing at its prey. Shards of black matter flung off the Beowolf in the result of the knight slamming their palm directly into the Grimm's skull._

_If time were slowed, the crunching and cracking sound of bones caused the Beowolf's entire head to gradually become flatter until it was nothing but paper-thin, and then decapitated from the main body. Rather than that, it was an ear-tearing explosion that shook the entire Centaur's body, the beowolf's flattened head blurring straight up into the clouds and creating a gap for skylight. The rest of its body descended down to the ground far down before creating a large cloud of dust on impact._

_The assaulting of spiked rain came down upon them, each individual needle bouncing off the armor uselessly, preventing the effectiveness of such attack. The white knight glanced to the side as the massive avian Grimm had come to snatch them. A foot away from contact, the Nevermore had opened its beak to devour the running character, only to be shot down when a gauntlet met direct contact with its nose and shut it up. Being forcefully thrown to the other side, its entire wing was torn off and dragged up during the knight's scaling over the giant_

_Utilizing the sharp feathers of the massive wing, the appendage of the Nevermore was used as a weapon, slicing through the waves of descending Beowolves as halves flung by the ascending figure. They released the wing, allowing it to fall onto other creatures of Grimm below. Slamming their fists together, a collisionary shockwave erupted and caused the Centaur to stand on its hind legs, screeching loudly into the air and sending Beowolves careening out of the way._

_By then, the knight was at the chest-level of the massive beast. The Centaur lifted all of its arms to slam down upon the single character, the palms closing in rapidly. Behind the knight, a snow-white female had landed unto the torso, waving her rapier in the air to create massive glyphs to appear beneath each individual palm, slowing them down while six other figures had materialized next to the glyphs, their hands pressed against the tremendous palms and stopping them in place once their feet touched the surface of the torso._

_Allowing the white knight a passage freely through. At the neck-point, the knight held a sheathed weapon in hand, one hand grasped around the sturdy sheath and the other gripping tightly onto the hilt of the weapon. Stomping a final step, they bow their head slightly downward before freeing the lighted sword from its scabbard. Swiping their blade across the air, skyscraper-heighted linear distortions of air pierced the skies. Implosions of space-tears cracking the ground away and then bursting into a world-shaking sound shatter-effect. The white knight turned their head to see the snow-white woman being knocked up into the air with a Nevermore in follow, the others fending off the climbing Grimm._

_Their blade's flatsides levelled with the ground and then released the grip over the weapon. As it descended down to the height of which the other fighters were at, the knight jettisoned into the air and perched upon the Nevermore's beak. At the six other fighters' position, the sight of a familiar blade spiraling down past them had signaled the move, making them jump off after handling their next enemies._

_The sword begun to glow a dark hue, wreathing within vermillion essence that soon expunged from the blade, duplicating hundreds of copies of itself with the vermillion hues. The raining onslaught of the dancing blades mowing down through the ascending Beowolves and then pinning Deathstalkers into place when they reached the ground. Within a matter of seconds when piercing into the ground, the blades had exploded into millions of projectile knives scattering outwards, stabbing deep into Grimm armor._

_The armored knight soon outstretched their hand, the blade that was embedded into the ground bulleting through the space. In exchange of allowing the blade to fling into the knight's hand, it had severed the Nevermore into halves. They soon kicked off of the corpse, wrapping an arm around the unconscious snow-white woman. The sheath of the weapon was placed into the woman's possession while the blade had stabbed into the ground between the counter-Grimm individuals. Each one of them looking up after seeing the abrupt landing of the sword. From the skies, the descending form of a woman and a knight came into view. Surrounding by hundreds of avian Grimm that dived towards them._

_Within prompt response, they rose their weapons and took aim to the clouds, plucking the creatures from the sky swiftly, but unable to properly decimate enough to protect the two falling figures. Acknowledging this; the armored character slid an index and middle finger down the side-lining of the scabbard, creating azure runical symbols as it trailed. The woman soon vanished within a flick of golden light, laying quietly next to the sword with the scabbard in her hands._

_Adjusting their weight within the air, the knight faced the oncoming barrage of Grimm. A Nevermore dove in quickly, talons widened for the catch. Hands shot up to the sharp claws, breaking it off in an instant and twisting them, tearing the talons from the legs and then pulling it in by the stumps, spreading their arms to the side to rip the attacker in half. Soon, another Nevermore quickly took the advantage and dove straight in between the ripping process of the previous Nevermore, slamming the tough-armored beak into the knight, shooting them faster to the ground._

_A red-haired woman donned with bronze-golden attire made a sprint through the crowd to reach the landing zone of the knight with the others in tow, the red-caped Reaper finally waking the unconscious woman. Quickly realizing the situation, the awoken woman grabbed the blade from the ground and ran with the others, allowing the front to skirmish the Grimm trying to encircle them._

_With the Grimm spiraling around the falling knight, they spreaded thin to avoid hitting the ground at such high velocity. Within the knight's vision, their hand reached up for the light seeping through the cracks of the storm clouds, watching it slowly become consumed by the darkness…_

_Finally meeting the ground, the seven characters involved within the desperate war were already too late to save their knight from impact. Laid within the formed crater had been a person hidden within the thick cloud of dust, whose armor had been dented inwards and scratched, rust infecting the edges of its plates. The whole right half of the helmet was shattered, remnants of its material scattered across the ground._

_Half of the face formerly hidden behind the helmet being displayed as the other half remained armored. Revealing the face of a man of straight, lushiously lengthed dark brown hair and young complexion. A scar travelling from just beneath his eye to the jawline diagonally. His scarlet half-lidded eyes blankly stared at the sky. Soon, the red-haired woman knelt down beside him, rushing to check for a pulse and shook his head with her hand. She was soon surrounded by her allies, who picked up their defenses while fixating their glances to their fallen comrade._

_The tears building within her eyes soon lined down, glancing up to them and shaking her head as she shook violently, grasping the upperhalf of the body close. All had lowered their head, grimacing as their tears soon followed. She screamed to the skies for an answer…_

_ … __only for the answer to be the drops of rain that begun to pour down upon them._

* * *

><p><strong> Quack. Sorry for cutting short guys since I've just added 2 short chapters, but I'll try and make it up to you guys in the next update. Truly, I am sorry about this. But, still, wish you guys a good day! Thanks for the reviews and the astounding amount of follows and favorites that I never expected! Until then, folks! Quack, fanfictionPenguin aborting thread.<strong>

**[ Next Update: 1/28/2015 || 5PM EST ]**

_**"The Sins We Hold..."**_


	9. The Sins We Hold

**The Sins We Hold...**

Jaune awoke, and with a start, was absolutely questioning what was going on when he did. He was greeted with lilac eyes that stared him down when he woke up from his slumber. "Yang?"

"What's up, Lady Killer?"

"You. What are you doing?"

"Making sure you're alright. You know, you seem to have a strange dream to make all those funny faces when you're sleeping." Yang kicked back into the beanie bag next to Jaune's, her arms behind her head as she maintained a concerned look. "Do you want to tell me or anything..? Seriously, I might not only be the best joker there is in the school, but I'm also your friend."

He sighed, ruffling the back of his hair in thought. "Nah, it's fine… this is strange of you to be honest, and don't worry about it. It's one of my ordinary dreams where I end up on a tip of a clocktower somehow." Jaune lied, leaning further back into the cushion. She carefully examined him before nodding, "Alright. Just know that I'm here if you need me."

"Since when did hot and beauty get this close with me?" Chuckling, he crossed his legs and shut his eyes. Suddenly, he felt the bean bag he was sitting on shift, snapping open his eyes and noticed Yang's knees digging into his seat right by his sides. Straddling him ontop of his stomach as she leaned in intimately, "Since this." A chesire grin crossed her lips, making sure to place her hands onto Jaune's shoulders.

His mind was immediately put under the 'Danger! Danger! Abort thread!' zone, making him try to sink deeper into the seat, "Y-Yang!"

"Come on, just for a second, Jaune~." She seductively licked her lips, smacking them together audibly and frightening Jaune even more.

"Sis, I can't find the cookie batter you said was ontop of the refridg—OH MONTY WHAT THE **HELL** IS GOING ON?!" Ruby dropped the plate of crumpets in her hand, allowing it to clang against the ground metallicly. But, oh dust, the look on her face, you can probably start laughing any mi- oh she looks pissed. The young girl's face turned from a fine skin hue to bright red, the chip of her teeth chipping away at the bottom of her lip and her eyes sharpening intensely.

Jaune blinked, attention now paid to the balled fists of the girl in a red cape, "U-uh, Ruby?" Little focus was put on the blonde male beneath the brawler as Ruby stormed up to Yang. "We need to talk." Ruby toned with a brief shriek, grapping her older sister by her collar and dragging the brawler to the kitchen, freeing Jaune from his predicament. His head slowly rose over the edge of his sunk-in bag, peering over the top just in time to watch the door slam into a close.

He slumped into the chair, exhaling loudly in relief. So, he stood up and dusted himself off—whatever the hell could possibly be on him, it was a habit for him. Considering to head back into the private room he found, he thought he should keep with hanging around in the main lobby if someone needed him. Just when he was about to march off to the bookcases to see what he could possibly read, the sound of a loud 'shatter' came from behind the kitchen door.

"YOU DON'T JUST STRADDLE SOMEONE LIKE THAT SO CARELESSLY AND FREELY! HE'S NOT EVEN YOUR BOYFRIEND!"

"OH, WHAT LETS YOU DECIDE WHAT I DO, RUBES?"

"I'M YOUR LEADER, THAT'S WHAT-!"

Nevermind, let's bail. Jaune scampered to the hidden doorway, tracing his finger along the assumed linings of the crack to feel a switch click into place. The entrance rumbled, dust remains sliding off and raining down from its edges. When it made a full opening, he slipped into the stairway and closed it back into place. Two figures withdrew from behind the kitchen door, powder and food jutting out of their hair. Glancing around for the male that was previously in the room and locating nobody, they exchange blinks with one another.

"… Did… he just vanish?"

* * *

><p>The knight sat himself at the desk again, sight darting around for what he could possibly do. There was the parchment paper left within the drawers he found before with a few other old, wrinkled manila folders. Then again, what could he do with that? He wasn't much of a writer, and besides, who uses a quill these days to write? That means that he'd have to buy some new line paperstack and writing utensils if he really felt like writing, which he lacked an urge for.<p>

Swatting the brainstormed suggestion aside; he rummaged through the desk's drawers to see if there was anything else that he hadn't become aware of yet, which concluded to be a waste of time. Leaning back against his chair, the blonde released a sigh into the air and let his arms rest against the armrests. That's when his thumb felt a small bulge coming out from the underside of the right armrest.

He blinked. Jaune hopped off the chair and let it roll back, then kneeling down and turning his head to notice a layout of blue to green buttons panned out on a rectangular object that embedded itself just beneath the leather of the armrest. His fingertip tapped against the object, refraining from going happy-go-button-pressing because of the previous incident he had with buttons.

An incident that introduced him first-handedly to 'fake-muffin-buttons-that-explode'. He blames Nora for it when it was soon discovered that the hyperactive girl had created such strange device from who-knows-what.

The prism flopped onto his palm, deattaching itself from its socket. He stood up and examined the object thoroughly. The idea struck him when he thought it looked like a remote control. But for what? Pointing it at the desk, his fingers slid off the edge of the remote and pressed the top-right red button.

Nothing happened.

So he just frowned, crossing his arms frustratingly and staring at the inanimate desk with a hint of curiousity. Being as stupid as he usually was, he decided to give the desk a good kick- _Bang! _"OH DUST!" He held his foot after contact, jumping up and down on his good foot. Monty, that desk was harder than he thought! Talk about karma striking back when you disrespect furniture! How does this not apply to cats?!

"Ah!" Something sounded like a plastic container had dropped and hit the ground. Jaune froze, looking around to see the source of the voice. That wasn't his, he was sure of it. His mouth was kept shut by the time he finished yelping in agony. His stare set on the desk, he scrutinized his eyes to see if he could get a clearer view of something he didn't see.

"A… talking desk?"

"Please, a little warning next time, Mr. Arc." A speeded sentence ran through, causing him to hop in shock and then slide the heel of his foot off the mat. "Wah!"

_Thump!_

He stared at the ceiling blankly, trying to gather his thoughts together. That voice sounded familiar, like a voice that he knew that verbally punished him if he fell asleep in class—wait… Jaune's eyes squinted even further to the point only an inch gap between his eyelids were left. "Professor… Oobleck?"

"Yes, indeed, Mr. Arc! Although I advise you find a better timing to send an unscheduled call, young man! You're quite lucky to call in the middle of a planning period!" The clumsy knight got up, groaning from the pain in his back and rubbed it. As it turns out, that voice didn't come from the desk, but the wall that was behind the desk. Revealing an array of holographic screens angled perfectly for one person to refrain from fully bending their neck to see. Like a side-half of a small igloo if you put it in a way, except filled with holographic screen panels.

He positioned himself aligningly to the center of the holographic screens, standing uprightly straight and glancing to each screen, each respectively blue and filled with copious amounts of texts and code dumps in green hues. On the main panel, which was directly upfront, was the face of Professor Oobleck in his teaching-attire, coffee spilling out from a white cup left on the ground, tipped over.

Woops. Must've done that by frightening Oobleck with the sudden 'bump' call, "O-oh, sorry Professor Oobleck, I-I'm trying to work this thing out so we can communicate if it's urgent or necessary. H-Headmaster Ozpin wants me to get comfortable with it. I-I'll buy you some more MeteorBucks as an apology for spilling you coffee." Jaune said sheepishly, scratching his temple with a nervous chuckle. Technically, he wasn't lying, but didn't make amends to having the professor drop his coffee over.

A first response was the professor's brief sigh, "It's fine, Mr. Arc. I can understand that to the most with all the new things going on orientated around the four teams you're now in lead of in your unison. I wish you the best of luck, and that I will be contributing a helping hand to you along with Professor Port. I look forward to your progress, Mr. Arc." He readjusted his tie, maintaining the formalities.

"Y-you won't be disappointed, sir! I'll end the call right now, thank you for your time."

"Oh, Mr. Arc, before you hang up."

"Y-yes, sir?"

"Be sure to get some proper sleep and eat healthy, you seem as if you hadn't slept in years." The professor readjusted his glasses, the gleam of light shimmering off his lenses.

"I-I'll try to, thank you for your concern."

"That is all. Good day, Mr. Arc."

The video image of Oobleck's face had shrunk to a vanishing point. Jaune had gasped out unintentionally, the shaking motion in his body was caused from the stirring of the uncalled for call. Taking one last breath, he looked to the panel above his head that was slightly tilted downward for better viewing. It was a camera system that allowed for him to see what was going on outside the room and inside. Well, aside from the bathroom, dear Monty who knows what would happen if that was installed?

…

Actually, that's not a bad—NO, BAD JAUNE!

Per panel had atleast several important functions, some of it were hotpress contacts to call people in an instant, some names he recognized that were apart of the school or outside. All the other names, completely foreign to him and he can really give no care for these things. Others had files of important people up-to-date, documents with dates on them of concerned past importances, app games for the bored and so on.

[ " Registering user. " ]

A female voiced, causing the holographs to surround Jaune like a bird-cage. "AH!" He girlishly screamed, nearly hitting the deck.

[ " Confirming gender as female. Biological analysis claims error. " ]

"W-what is this? I-I'm not a girl!"

[ " System mistake. Apologies, sincerely. I am S.I.N, previous user-designated name, Sin. Systematic Interface Nexon. " ]

Jaune blinked, having to atleast absorb 25% of that information, "H-huh… W-well, my name's Jaune… Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you, Sin." Little did he know that blue 'scripts' of numbers were beginning to formulate behind him. The screens panned out, floating back to their original positions. "So… you're an AI, basically?" The blonde asked curiously, taking a few more glances at the panel info.

A girl stepped up to his side; one who stood a good height to match Ruby's, long azure hair that reached to the waist-level with the lengthy hair on the sides of her head to be curled perfectly, sharp as tips. This particular woman donned a buttoned-up black tailcoat in which you can see numbers rolling off it if you peer through the slightly transparent material. The dress pants perfectly fitting her slim character down to the black hunting boots that seemed nearly out of place. Her pale-like skin and young complexion made her uniquely beautiful in nearly every aspect. The girl's aurora color-changing eyes peer at Jaune's.

"Correct." The voice was almost as motherly as it could be: soft, melodic and, in a hint, serious where it's needed. "I am Sin. I have registered you into the system, Master Arc. I will be assisting you when you are utilizing the framework. Please think of me as nothing more than a willing assistant."

Jaune's jaw had dropped, the bewildered sapphire eyes nearly losing its bright gleam of life as he tried to accumulate an emergency escape plan, "I-I-w-we-u-uh, h-hi!" He gulped. Oh god, just looking at her just makes it as plain as one of those anime physics, where cute and small will wreck your dust.

"Am I worrying you, Master? I will dematerialize if you command so."

"N-no!" He jumped, "I-It's just… weird, being called master." Jaune coughed to straighten his vocal cords, his eyes darting back and forth between her alluring color-assorted eyes and the wall, "S-Sin."

"Yes, Master Arc?"

A frown pursed his lips when his sight made a final gaze on the mat below their feet. Sighing, Jaune looked up to meet her eyes with confidence—maybe even fake confidence—and nodded affirmatively. As he felt right now, it didn't feel right being called a Master. It reminded him… it reminded him of the cruel Faunus discrimination in Remnant, the slaves or under-paid workers out there.

"… I don't want you calling me… 'Master'." He shook at the word momentarily, "I want you to call me Jaune. Not Mr. Arc, not 'Master'. Please, Sin. I appreciate your help, but I also want you to appreciate most things yourself." Jaune stopped himself, putting himself into his own thoughts and pondered over what he said. It was funny that he didn't really consider this personally and that he was saying it to someone else. Atleast, he found it funny. "Let's be… like 'friends', Sin." He sheepishly smiled, offering her his hand for a handshake.

Sin stared, the numbers that matrix'd down her clothing were rapidly speeding down in trails by a strange interference with her coding. What the teen had said to her had left its mark, causing her to be taken aback. Her visual image flickered, and her expression left unchanged. Acknowledging the formal handshake, she was delayed a few seconds to accept and shake his hand. To Jaune's surprise, it felt physical, allowing him to grasp her hand firmly and shake.

"I…" The girl flickered again, "… I will comply… 'Jaune'." Struggling from the coding interference of her reaction, the name of her activator seemed to fail to easily 'roll off the tongue', despite her being artificially bodied. Able to see his smile, it occurred to her that it was rather strange of him, wondering what kind of human being this was entirely. Otherwise, sentient being.

"Great." Jaune placed his hands on his hips, his friendly ways returning as if he were talking with a comfortable friend, despite only meeting for around five minutes. "I'm sure the others would like to- wait." A sensation of discomfort struck him, "Are you… capable of leaving this room?"

Sin replied with a headshake, gesturing a 'no'.

"Uh…" Pfft! Jaune-brain, go! "Can you uh…" He flailed his arms around for effect, causing the AI that temporarily became oblivious to him to stare quizzically. His eyes lit up, "Oh! I got an idea! I'll call Ren! He's Asian, he'll be sure to have an-!"

"Ma- I mean, 'Jaune'," She corrects herself, "That's known to be stereotypical, please refrain from following such stereotypes for the benefit of your mental status." Her eyesight dropped in level to see the scroll in his hand, "…" A mental 'donk!' of a rock hitting a hollow bamboo cane rendered Sin's head to tilt to the side.

"I just need to—" He fumbled with the scroll, nearly dropping it now and then between his fingers. "—CALL REN!" The blonde had some serious hand seizures to let that thing juggle for more than a minute in the air. Spectating this show; it occurred to her that it wasn't intended to be a show. Sin swiped her hand across the air in a blur, the scroll now between her finger tips as she handed it back, "Please be cautious with fragile devices like that."

"A-ah, h-haha, thanks, Sin." Jaune glanced to his scroll, freezing and giving the device an off eye. Tapping away at the unreacting screen, he stopped. "… Oh dust, did I break this thing?" Despite knowing that it wouldn't do it any good, he shook around the scroll like a soda bottle, "COME ON! PLEASE DON'T BREAK ON ME! I JUST GOT THIS ONE LAST WEEK!" Jaune practically screamed, looking at the scroll again only for his head to drop depressingly, arms dangling loose by his sides, "Urgh…"

"'Jaune'." The AI said, her chin raised up a little higher into the air, an idea striking her, "May I please see the device?" Sin asked, pointing to the object. Jaune hesitated for a moment.

_'__Well, this thing is broken anyways.'_

He thought, holding it out on his palm, "Here."

Unexpected by the blonde, Sin placed a finger onto his scroll and pressed down upon the object. The room glew with a cobalt hue, causing Jaune to blur his sight to notice the change. Sin's feet start dematerializing into pixels rapidly, and in seconds, the rest of her body. In the aftermath of the event, it left a regular office room with digital panels and a confused blonde in the middle of the room. "S-Sin?!"

His body's upperhalf swished to scan one side of the room to the other side, "S-Sin, where are you?!"

"Here." The previously broken scroll had vibrated after the voice.

Jaune blinked, raising his hand that held the device and stared down at the screen. Slowly, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped at the sight. "Y-you're…"

"YOU'RE LIKE A PIXELMON!" The blonde finished his own sentence, his conscious seeming to derp itself. Within his screen was an 8-bit version of Sin with the same visual she was seen as. Azure hair, color-changed pixel eyes and so on. Every animation of every square pixel smoothly followed up in place on his scroll, allowing him to see how freely she moved about within the space. "If that is what suits you best." Sin's voice transferred out from the speakers, making communication an ease for her.

"Then… this means I can bring you around wherever I go?"

"Correct. Though, it judging from my calculations, this doesn't seem to be the only thing I'm limited to."

The device in his hand had flashed a light briefly. Once again, she was gone. This time, from a scroll. The corner of his eye caught onto the digital strings building together a foot away from him, causing him to look up and see the rapid process of a materializing Sin. Taking only seconds, Sin had turned around and nods to him, "This as well. The distance I have to maintain near the scroll is atleast an acre, so I can't stray farther than that, otherwise I'll be forced back into it." Jogging a fair distance away, she stopped and bursted into azure cubes that disintegrated into the air. "Other than that, I will be here to assist you when I can, Jaune." The scroll spoke again.

"Alright… so let's go out and introduce you to everyone else."

"I will be here."

Jaune tacked the scroll onto his wrist, letting it automatically strap itself around securely. The blonde treaded to the staircase that brought him up here and then descended down the steps. Reaching the hidden passage, he intended to go through it, only to realize that there might be others on the other side by now since classes were over. "Hnngh. Crap, how am I going to get out now?"

"The hidden passage is infront of you, you can exit through that way." Sin claimed, having to be unaware of his issue at mind.

"I mean getting out without the others seeing me, I don't even know if out there right now."

"Please look at the screen of your scroll." She requested, altering the scroll's channel to view the camera hidden within the main lobby. Right now, Yatsuhashi, Fox and Sun were lounging on the bean bag seats, enjoying the campfire. From the point of view, Coco had entered into the vision and started speaking to the three about some kind of 'Family time coffee', carrying around five enormous bags filled with coffee assortments.

It never struck him at how strong she was physically to carry all that. Jaune blinked, "You can do that?"

"I am in control of most technology within this room, unless I'm able to access main ports otherwise." She stated, continuing to assess the problem at hand. His pupils were attached to the display, silently observing the four individuals make their way to the exit minutes after. He sighed in relief, opening the door gradually with an eye peeked through the gap to double check. The blonde managed to successfully get out, closing the wall door behind him and glanced around.

"Alright… now I just need to figure out what to do—" His scroll had vibrated. "Jaune, 'Pieryha Nilekos' is calling you." Blink.

"I-It's 'Pyrrha Nikos', Sin." Dear Monty, he nearly died from humor today. "Go ahead and open the call, put it on loudspeaker." Jaune made his way to the kitchen to see what he could get a munch on. She complies wordlessly, receiving the call through and setting its speaker mode to ON.

"Jaune? Are you in Vale by any chance?" His familiar partner asked with her face icon displayed. Jaune had grabbed a soda, clicking it open and letting the fizz subside.

"Uh, no, I'm still at beacon. Why? Need a hand in something?"

"If it doesn't bother you that is, I was going to go get some batter for the pancakes since Ruby and Nora devoured all of it from our kitchen when we had some last night, but Weiss called me for some help with controlling Yang and some guy who touched her hair."

"S-sure..? Good luck with… Yang?" His hands fumbled around with the soda can, having to remember the time when he accidently touched the brawler of RWBY's hair. Next thing he knew, he was in the infirmary with multiple IV needles stuck through his forearms. Even worse; he was scared of needles. So he nearly flipped out of the infirmary bed and made it look like a seizure.

"Thanks! I owe you one." Pyrrha claimed, ending the call when the conversation came to an end. The blonde sighed, gulping down the rest of his drink before throwing it into the nearby recycle bin. He grabbed Crocea Mors from the wall he left it leaning on and headed out the door to climb aboard the next airship. "Wish me luck…" He muttered, barely audible for the AI on his wrist to hear.

"My apologies, what Jaune?"

"I-It's nothing."

* * *

><p>"You said it was nothing." The woman restated his words; watching as he protruded vomit from his mouth and into the trashcan on the volatile flying airship.<p>

"I-It is!" He tried to keep the sentence sown together smoothly, but that utterly failed despite his attempt to seem cool, "I-It's just motion sickness!" The blonde hurls again into the trashcan.

"I advise taking motion sickness medication. Otherwise, refrain from fast motions that trigger your current illness." That's a tad late there, Sin.

"Y-yeah… sure." He clutched his gurgling stomach, other hand pressed firmly against the wall.

"Was that sarcasm I detect?"

"N-NO!"

The airship finally made a touchdown to the ground, as Jaune was the first person to leave… and the first person to leave with an interesting exit. Which consisted of him bailing the transportation and rolling across the ground, laying flat on his front. "Hnngh." A groan of relief wept from him. Surely, it left others that boarded or unboarded the airship to stare and walk around him with a creeped sensation, but he wouldn't care now. His life was safe. He's going to hug the ground. Very passionately-

"If you intend on buying the batter; my recommendation would be now. The nearest store will close within two hours." Sin stated, ruining Jaune's hope of huggling with the ground.

"Hnngh." So he just plants his face there and presses his arms against the ground to plop himself back into a standing stance. "Okay." The blonde huffed, dusting off his armor and glanced around, "So where's that store?"

"Turn left. When you reach Red Street, take a right on Blue Street until you reach the store along the right-hand side." She instructed briefly through the speakers.

"Thanks."

Jaune rounds the corner when the directions were given, only to find himself being slammed into by a kid. "Oof!" The two had toppled over on the sidewalk, Jaune's back hitting first against the pavement and his tackler ontop. Groaning, he popped an eye open to find a black crow-haired child in ragged clothing resting ontop of him, the child's silver eyes stared right back his. Almost immediately, he pushed off and blasted off into a nearby alley. The blonde sat upright, scratching the back of his head in confusion, "Well that was… sudden?"

"Indeed." Sin replied. Two hooded characters approached Jaune in a bursting dash, who soon zipped by him and sharped the corner in pursuit of the child that collided with the blonde recently. Jaune blinked, "Sin… what did you detect on them? Specifically, within their hands? Can you detect things?"

"Affirmative… as for those 'objects', they appeared to be weapons. One is calibrated for a dart-barrel installed into a switch blade. The second is a handgun, though with a retractable curved blade mounted on the top of the gun. Judging from their paces; their target is the boy whom collided with you earlier, hostility ensues."

He frowned, "Sin." Jaune straighted the sheath belted on the side of his waist, turning his head to see the store just down the street from where he was on the opposite way he was heading, "We're going after them. Mark the store's location." Sin nods through the screen, despite not being looked at. The blonde ran forward, also turning the corner to pull into the series of alleyways that mazed through.

It was when he heard the yelp of a child echo throughout the hollow alleys; causing Jaune to stop and press his back against the corner to prevent being seen. Peeking carefully, his eyes made out the two tall figures and the shortest one being closest to the wall.

"Where is it?! Our money?! Huh?!" One of the attackers had shouted, grabbing the cornered figure by the collar and hosts them into the air. The tip of their switch blade sluggishly pointing at the heart, "Where?!" The child had grabbed around the wrist after trying to claw the man, only to claw away the air. His legs flailing rapidly, searching for some kind of ground to step on. "Let… go…! It's money I got..! Not… yours!" He struggled away as the hooded man threw him into the wall. His back scraped as it slid down the rough wall, causing him to tear out and lay on his back, the shoulders flexed from the surging pain.

"It's going to be ours now, hand it over. If not, let's say we're not going to play so nicely." One of the attackers claimed. Jaune gritted his teeth together, his eyes narrowing from the twitching feeling swelling within his chest. Still continuing to observe, unintervening, he watched as the boy stood up on his own, picking up a rustedly aged pipe that laid by his side. "I'll… fight you… for it..!" The crow-haired boy's teeth had visibly showed, revealing the gritted teeth of courage and the sternly serious silver eyes that partially hid behind his bangs. The makeshift weapon in his hands, however, shook violently. Trying to position himself to steady the pipe as the two predators drew closer.

The blonde's chest had stopped its swelling feeling suddenly; as the boy took on his attackers, despite their prowess of using their own weapons and intellect of rough fighting. Jaune's eyes had been overshadowed by the time he lowered his head, letting his hair act as the curtains for his eyes. His mouth had been slightly agap, and his hands gripping the hilt of the white blade. "Will you do anything to help him… Jaune?" Sin's stoic face had peered up to Jaune's from the scroll. Only silence had been his response, leaving only Sin to question it even more, "… Jaune?"

The boy charged forward, his feet leading him the way to his charge, pipe raised overhead to strike. Shutting his eyes, the downward motion of the pipe had been stopped by an immovable force. The child revealed the teared red silver eyes, seeing a mop blonde-haired teen standing infront of him. The two hooded characters standing by his sides with surprise as their jaws slightly dropped. However, they took him as an ally and raced to the child.

They were stopped promptly, tripping in their place as their faces bashed into the alley ground by the one they considered an ally. "W-why you little…!" They stand back up and run to Jaune, a fist colliding with the teen's face and knocking him into the air and falling flat on his back. Even with a thud, the ocean-blue eyes remained shadowed, his mouth still slightly agap and blood running down the corner of his lips.

He stood back up after being knocked back down casually, direction still facing the two hoodlums. They charge again, only for Jaune to step forward in exchange. One of them had swung their fist to his head once again, hitting the air. The knight weaved around the thrusting arm and slamming a popping punch against their chest, winding them down as they collapsed for a gasp of air. The second hooded man swiped their blade across the air, cutting briefly on Jaune's nose bridge. As the boy watched, his eyes focused on the cut left across Jaune's bridge, only for it to quickly vanish from a gleam of white light that faded off it.

The teen jumped back, evading the second slash. He wasn't quick enough to dodge the kick that hurled him into the wall however, the metallic clanging of armor meeting brick frictioning off the wall to produce sparks. Jaune fell onto his hind, clutching his kicked gut. His opponent approached with the knife still in hand. Pointing it directly to Jaune's head, the small dart barrel extended out from the side of the knife.

"Your mistake, pal—"

Jaune's hand mimicked the form of a gun, aiming it to the man. "…Bang." The blonde muttered, the scroll attached to his wrist flashing off an incredibly bright light. His opponent relented, pulling back and blinking several times to regain his vision. The moment his sense of sight returned, it was sent entirely black when a short azure-haired woman's fist connected to his face. The body of the hooded man creating a web of cracks throughout the wall before hitting the ground.

Sin had promptly turned to Jaune, offering him a hand. He rose his head, smiling sheepishly, the endless sky eyes uncovering itself from its shadowed curtain to the woman. Grasping her hand, she promptly pulled him up to her side. As he stood up, he slightly hunched over, palm resting against the pain still lingering on the foortprint on his stomach. Jaune's eyes first set upon the boy, who remained unmoved from his spot, the pipe still wavering in his arms. Sin gave a plain stare as Jaune spoke, starting with a chuckle, "D-don't… worry, we're here to… h-help." The child hesitantly lowered his weapon, eventually dropping it as he wiped away the dirt and tears from his face.

Akin to Jaune's own, except with blood, he kept the dorky grin he always held, "Hey… big guys don't cry." The boy's savior states, causing him to stand up straight and nod shakily. "Don't… try and get into trouble again, alright..? Where are your parents..? You should get back to them…"

"I… don't have any…" The crow-haired boy frowned, looking back up to the two individuals that saved him, "I… have a sister… Y-you… can come with me… Y-you can rest there w-with us since… you saved me."

Unexpectedly, he got a laugh from the blonde teen, "Don't… worry about it." Sin gave an uneasy glance to Jaune's conditions, "He offers you something to help you recover. It will help you."

"I… i-if… you suppose then." Jaune scratched the back of his head, "Thanks…" He trailed off his own sentence, silently requesting for the child's name.

"I-It's Clayton…"

"It's nice to meet you, Clayton… I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc. This is Sin, a friend of mine." Jaune introduced, Sin respectively bowing to the young lad. What snatched the boy's marveled stare was Sin, whose appearance seemed unnaturally flawless and perfect. She blinked to the child, which caused him to snap out of it and shake his head, "O-oh… c-come on..! I-It's this way…"

With Clayton leading the way, the two other individuals followed behind. Sometimes, Jaune had to use Sin's offered support to help him walk. At halfway from reaching the location, the crow-haired boy turned and handed Jaune of what seemed to be a wallet, "O-oh! H-here!" He practically shoved it into his hands. Jaune blinked, "A wallet?"

"_Your _wallet specifically, Jaune. He took it when he tackled you into the ground." Sin claimed, being replied with a horrified face of—your one and only local blonde knight.

"YOU KNEW THE WHOLE TIME-?!" Jaune stopped near the end of his sentence, coughing from the pain.

"I assumed you knew, so I didn't say anything about it." A smile plastered across her lips in a smug grin.

_'__Oh you little…'_

* * *

><p><strong>What's up, quack? fanfictionPenguin here to bring you guys news that the chapters are now going to be updated weekly since further planning intended for the story hasn't exactly been written down yet. But still, thank you guys for the awesome reviews I got and I hope I can keep you guys interested. Got my hands on some cool ideas and so forth, so stay tuned. Quack. Ideas can be PM'd to me if you guys want.<strong>

**fanfictionPenguin aborting thread.**

**[ Next chapter: ]**

**"Through the pain, over the sorrow."**


	10. Commemorating Monty Oum

**In my all due respects to the public and readers that expected another update of this story; I am to announce that this is not another chapter that is apart of the First Ascended Legacies.**

If you had not yet heard of Monty Oum's, creator of RWBY, unfortunate passing, read it well, and read it now. In my deepest concerns to the Monty Oum's passing; I wish your family, fans and friends the best. I will honor your name respectively, as you deserve the most from me. Inspiration and imagination can be taken to no limit, and I intend on taking advantage of that. Never again will I see something as proud as you made it to be.

You who reads this rightfully due respect prompt that I wrote; let's send our goodbyes… and not forget what he's accomplished. With pride and dignity he's created with folded hands, it's time we, ourselves, take the seeds of his creation to a higher extent with the abilities of writing. I won't stop, and I'll make this fellow story of RWBY as best as I can detail it and bring it to higher extents.

I'll stand in silence after I write a chapter in his name to commemorate the name.


	11. Through The Pain, Over The Sorrows

**"Through the Pain, Over the Sorrow..."**

The aluminum pallete imposed as a door was shoved aside. The rays of sunlight beaming through the gaps as Jaune, Clayton and Sin had stepped through to meet a nearly cramped-space. Just enough for a homeless person to sleep soundly in and stand fully. This 'house' Clayton spoke about during their way there was a simple makeshift shelter that was entirely made of aluminum plates that balanced over one another to make it stable. It wreaked of the aged smell of aluminum and the ground was just dirt packed on grass poorly.

Once they stepped inside; Clayton immediately made his way to the corner of the room and looked at a bulged form within a tattered red sleeping bag. His hand pressed down onto the sleeping bag, shaking it lightly as someone fumbled to sit up from the bag. Revealing a messy long-haired brunette with hazel eyes and a black beanie, which concealed cat ears that poked just out of the hat, though it was sufficient enough to make the hat beanie look like a hat made to look like a cat.

She seemed to be atleast two or three years younger despite her dirted skin and clothing. Trying to speak, no words found its way out. Clayton patted her head and shook his head, turning to Jaune and his companion, "This is Alice. She's… my sister. I found her here when I use to go to an orphanage. When I asked the caretaker of the orphanage if he could help her. All he said was that he wouldn't do it and sent her back out because… she was a Faunus."

"-So you took it to your own responsibility to take care of the mute Faunus, Alice." Sin finished for him. He replies to her with a gesturing nod.

"If no one would… who would? I know I'm just a kid… but she's younger than me, and she deserves things I can get. I believe Faunus and Humans are just the same." He firmly claimed, as Jaune stood behind Sin, his chin lowered and eyes set on the ground. Clayton had something that he possibly couldn't have whenever he wanted. Not the possession of courage and responsibility whenever it came to it. Even when Ruby just told him 'nope' during the time of his pondered failure of being a leader…

His teeth gritted and eyes tensed. The AI paid attention to him by the corner of her peripheral, but disregarded it. She continues to converse with the young man, "Is there anything we can do to help you and your sister?" This caught Jaune off guard, who raised his head quizzically to his companion.

The boy froze in his place, seeming absolutely shocked as he stood and silenced himself for seconds, "I-I… w-we…" He looks down to Alice's hazel pupils, who stared back with a nod. "W-water and… food, p-please… I-I don't want to ask for too much… T-thank you…" Clayton's eyes watered as he tried to prevent them from falling and rolling down his puffed dirted cheeks, "This… why..? T-this means a lot to me…" He sniffed, this single act of passion from Sin hitting him deeper in the heart than he had expected.

"… Because we're friends." Sin had smiled, holding up a fist and crouched towards the boy. She was requesting a mere fist-bump, as her appearance seemed so tender and kind. Clayton lowered his head to hide a reddened cheek, raising a fist and bumped it with his own genuine smile. The same played with Alice as she fist bumped her back. Their heads turn up to Jaune, who had been watching silently for the past minute. Feeling a tug at his hand, Sin had pulled him forward, "You do it too, Jaune." She voiced, making Jaune's hand into a fist.

In his heart, there was a flick of warmness. His frown flipped into a grin as he held his free hand in a fist, chuckling as it seemed funny for him to doing something that was so old. Clayton and Alice raise their fists infront of his, all three bopping knuckles with eachother lightly. A heartfelted dorky smile left his face again. The teen duos turned around to exit the shelter, waving to Clayton and Alice as they went to the store that they intended on going to, "Stay here, we'll be back in about 20 minutes."

The kids nod, remaining inside as Clayton sat next to his Faunus sister. "Do what you think is right." Jaune blinked.

"What?"

"A previous owner of me had told me one day: 'Do what you think is right.' If you can take these words to heart, then perhaps… just perhaps… there'll be great outcomes. I apologize sincerely if this isn't what you want to do, I will make amends to mister Clayton and his sister for being unable to—" Sin's head rose, her eyes focused on a hand held up from her companion's side. Taking it as the gesture to pause, she had done so.

"… We'll do it." The blonde states nonchalantly, a smile plastered on his face as he continued to look forward, "Don't bother asking me if you should do it, as long as you think it's the right thing to do and I could agree to. I'm… glad that you decided to say it. I didn't have… I didn't have the guts in me to ask."

The female of the duo stopped, watching the back of the blonde knight walk on ahead. Sin's expression was left unphased, but the numbers streaming down through her clothing was in a wild pursuit for proper reactions. There was no solution. The digits in her freeze their processes, causing her to become silent until they made another rerun again.

"Eh? Sin, you okay?" Jaune noticed her lagging behind, turning around to face her.

"Y-yes… I will be right behind you." She nearly stutters, walking after her companion when he turned back around to continue to the store. A small smile escaped her thoughts, prompting her to use the back of her hand to try and mask it. To her, it felt strange for such coding dump to go crash on its own… something that her body will have to try and make amends to.

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><p>"You'll buy them clothing too?" Sin asked, dumbfounded by the amount of Lien being used to support two kids. They had a margin to set when buying things for the base of operations, the Vermillion Quarters. From a brief internal dispute in your local blonde, he ignored the margin and set his priorities to helping two kids that he just met an hour ago. Luckily, they managed to get in five minutes prior to their closing.<p>

"Y-yeah… I-I may not know their sizes, but I'll do what I can to help them out!" Jaune had nearly cheered, placing the small shirt and shoes into the cart. Her eyes gaze over the clothing, examining the articles. "I… see then. Do your best, Jaune."

"Jaune?"

Their heads perked up and glanced down the aisle, spotting a familiar red-ponytail haired woman in bronze walk up to them. Her emerald eyes scanning the two individuals, though halting when they met Sin's aurora pair.

"P-Pyrrha—hey!" The blonde chuckled, sweat slipping down his temple when he tried to come up with a valid excuse of shopping within the kid's aisle. The Amazon seizes her own movements when she neared the cart, noticing all the products and items that were categorized for children. The trio remained silent as the awkward moment had passed. Three dots comically floating above their heads as they waited for atleast one of them to start talking.

Pyrrha's head glanced to Sin, who returned the eye-level contact. To spectators that passed by; their attention had been fully paid to two incredibly beautiful females standing next to a blonde teen. One that everyone recognized as the 4-time champion of Mistral, the other being Aphrodite with her sea-glow blue hair and youthing flawless complexion and sparkled eyes of mystery. As if they were telepathically connected to eachother, both females turn sights to their known blonde, causing him to flinch and cover himself with his arms.

Pyrrha and Sin go back to staring at eachother. "… I take it you're Jaune's friend… that's a mother to…" Her sight focuses on the various clothing in their cart, "… several children?" The amazon seemed incredibly confused, her eyes darting back and forth between the blonde and his friend.

"H-hold on, P-Pyrrha… this is my friend, S-Sin. She also is helping us out in FALL, our unison. We just… kind of met recently and she's… really REALLY helpful." He emphasized, scratching the back of his head. How the heck was he going to put it? That they found kids together and decided to help them—oh wait, that doesn't sound right _at all_.

"Sin, this is—"

"Pyrrha Nikos, four-time champion of the Mistral tournament and your partner." The AI completed for him, a hand extended to the tournament champion. Pyrrha rose her hand hesitantly, shaking it with Sin's before they parted their hands away, "I-I'm… impressed..?" Not really, she should be use to this by now, "I am honored to meet you." Sin continued, her arms dangled by her sides.

"R-right…" Jaune sweatdropped, "We uh… I can explain… m-me and Sin found a kid getting beat up in an alley and we decided to—" A prompt _clap! _stopped him as he found silk-soft hands clasped around his cheeks, noticing emerald eyes scanning him thoroughly. Her fingertips gently caressed the minor bruise that was left behind after Jaune's aura had patched part of him up, still taking slow effect, "… You stopped them and saved the kid?" A frown purses her lips.

"Y-yeah… he also showed us his shelter and little sister… they need my help. **Our** help." The knight confirmed, eyeing the cart of clothing and food prioritized for the kids. Then came Clayton's face when he was prepared for combat as a sepian flashback. "You should come with us." His amazon partner blinked, seeming quizzical about the situation that Jaune and Sin found themselves in. A sigh escaped her, a hand planted on her hip as a grin turned her lips, "… Alright then. I'll help too."

The blonde rose an eyebrow, "Help? You know I just suggested that you come with us to visit them...?"

"Oh, I know alright." Her emerald orbs latching onto Sin before quickly staring down her leader. A chill was spent down his spine, almost as if Pyrrha really **did** have the wrong impression still.

"Jaune, I'm detecting slight hints of anger and sadness within Miss Nik—"

"_Let's goooooo!_" She practically dragged the two of them with Sin holding onto the shopping cart into the train.

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><p>Oh dust how did this even happen?<p>

All he could remember was going inside, meeting Pyrrha (_at a bad timing_), going to the register to check things out. **That doesn't explain why there were so many people and staff members of the store surrounding them!**

"You're Pyrrha Nikos! Four-time champion! Please, sign my shirt!"

_Oh. _That explained it, nevermind. Sure, Jaune never paid much mind to her status as a celebrity since winning the Mistral tournament four times in a row, but if this is what it was like to be a super-star, dear Monty, he didn't want to go through with this. With so many people surrounding them, mainly the Amazon, they had no way of getting out unless they decided to have a ram-people-with-the-cart contest. They had their backs pressed against the register table with Pyrrha trying to calm down her fans, "I-I'm sorry, Jaune."

"D-Don't worry about it… not like this could've been avoided…" The blonde replied subtly, scratching the back of his head from the unnerving attention being gained. There were even the drastical fans that threw in their own things into their cart for free, the cart already being filled over its ri—was that a fish?

"Shall I cast a diversion?" The AI asked, remaining still and calmly composed as her hands were set over the cart. "PLEASE!" Jaune screamed as he slowly begun to sink into the crowd of raging Pyrrha fans. She snaps her fingers, creating a brief flicker of light to fill the area and captivated everyone of their moving abilities. With the trio now capable of making their escape, they blurred out of the amassed crowd, blasting out of the store doorway and panting in basked relief.

"Next time… we're going to make sure one person doesn't shout out your name, Pyrrha." Jaune sighed, planting his forehead into the ground. His partner stifled a chuckle, standing up and dusting herself off, "How about we get going before more of them come in?" She offers both of her hands to him and Sin. The two accepted her hand up, getting pulled to a stand, "Yeah, that'd be a great idea—"

The store's doors burst open, the doors unlatching from their hinges and flying off into bystanding cars. "It's an excellent idea." His AI finished for him, running off with their goods. Jaune and Pyrrha didn't dare turn around, otherwise they'd risk getting slammed into by more fans of the Mistralian Champion. The partners follow after Sin, darting from the crowd of amassed people that were constantly shouting Pyrrha's name.

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><p>They met with the shelter that Clayton had made from rusted material, as Pyrrha did question before where the child's 'house' was. All it took to get there from the store was around twenty minutes atleast, since the house was located off the outskirts of the district they were in. With the Amazon's confused glance towards her leader; Jaune had pointed out to the plate-made makeshift home leaned against the dirted brick wall.<p>

The blonde knelt down infront of the 'door' inside, tapping it with his finger several times. Waiting for a minute, the door cringed to the side, opening up to reveal the space inside that housed Clayton and his sister, Alice. Jaune greeted with a smile that paired with Sin's. He noticed Clayton's silverite eyes staring up, just over his shoulder pauldron. Jaune blinked, turning his own head to look at the source of the attention-dragging.

_'__Oh. That's who he was looking at.' _He stifles a chuckle, "That's my partner. Pyr-" Before he could finish, Clayton shot out of the shelter and grabbed her hands, eagerly shaking hands with the shocked Amazon, who returned the hand shake loosely, "HI! PYRRHA NIKOS! I'M A HUGE FAN! HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI!" Her emerald eyes blinked several times, trying to recover from the prompt handshake with the child. She bursted out laughing. Alice peeked out from over the edge, her eyes slightly widening at the sight of a super-celebrity. Opposite from her brother, she remained behind cover with her head peeping out from the side of the doorway.

Jaune laughed, standing back up and placing his hands on his hips, "Well, that's them, Pyrrha. This is Clayton, and the one peeping through the door is his sister, Alice." His partner smiled, having long-ago released the boy's hand and glanced over to his sister. At first, the emerald irises scanned over the covered ears beneath Alice's beanie and then travelled down to the girl's aged clothing, "You're a Faunus…" She nearly gasped in amazement as Clayton was human, facing Jaune's direction, hoping for an answer.

"Clayton took her in to take care of her, so he ran away from his orphanage and decided to make it his responsibility." Her leader explains, holding out a hand to Alice. Alice hesitantly holds her hand out to Jaune's, gingerly holding onto it as she stepped out into the sunlight and winced. She had never been out into the sunlight in so long after noticing the dangers that lurk outside beyond her shelter. Once her hazel irises finally adjust to the brightness, she noticed Pyrrha smiling down upon her, "It's nice to meet you, 'Alice'." The faunus took deep breaths, should it be anxiety or nervousness, and reached up to grasp her hand shakily.

Alice nods to Pyrrha as their hands shook together, soon letting go and scampered behind Clayton, using him as cover. The group chuckled in response to her reaction. The 'J' of team JNPR rose his arms into the air, grabbing a few bags from the shopping cart they dragged—and utterly wrecked—here, "We got some clothes and food for you guys, let's dig in!"

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><p>The five sat down within the shelter, making themselves comfortable as Clayton dug through the bag to hand out the food. Even with his visitors' decline, he did bother them enough to atleast take a little bit. Jaune was the first to trip up as usual, having to fumble with the croissant in his hand as it jogged in the air countlessly until it made a perfect landing in his mouth. The blonde blinked several times, trying to absorb what happened. Leaving the four spectators to watch in awe, they eventually bursted out in their own share of laughs. Pyrrha took her croissant and breaks it in half, then holding them above her head to symbolize horns as she made a growling face playfully. Alice had laughed mutely, holding a hand up to her mouth to hide the smile while her brother held his stomach, choking on the food he stuffed in his mouth.<p>

The comedy short-lived, dying more quickly than it should have. Jaune had left the main group's circle to grab the plastic bag with clothes and reached inside to take out an orange sweater that the blonde had intended to give Clayton. "Hey, Clayton!" The child's head perked up just in time to see the mid-air folded sweater arking into his direction, closing his eyes in reaction of his flinching and held out his hands. Clayton didn't feel anything, nor did he hear the sound of the cloth smacking against him. Cracking his eyes open, he saw a familiar bronze-armored Amazon standing infront of him, her eyes shadowed while the orange sweater had clung itself to the back of her head.

"…" Her hands clench into fists, the rocking motion of her arms beginning to tear a plummented fear inside her leader as he backed up, "Jaune…" Pyrrha turned around, balling the cloth in hand. Alice and her brother quickly backed up to the wall, keeping well out of reach as Sin maintained a firm pokerface, doing nothing to help her owner. "H-heyyyyyy… hi P-pyrrha!"

"… Do you know what you've just done… right?" A sinister smirk crosses her lips, her visual image beginning to illustrate a towering figure of her while Jaune shrunk.

"U-uh… y-you see, t-that was an… ac-accident..?" He barely squeaked out before Pyrrha slammed the rolled-up clothing article into Jaune's face, causing the blonde to sprawl across the ground, "Urk!" His hand grabbed the plastic bag adjacent from him, reaching inside to take out the clothing content inside. He grabbed a black jacket with cat ears mounted on its hoodie, molding it quickly in his hands and then throwing it, "Taaaaake that!"

The jacket soared throughout the air, but to Jaune's dismay, it had missed and landed on the head of a cat Faunus, "Ohhhhh woops." Alice's head was now half-covered with the jacket, the shocked expression on her lips beginning to sow into a grin. She takes it and then threw it into Clayton's face, causing him to react by taking the cloth and aiming for Sin—

Sin's eyes focused unto the boy, triggering a depth of hesitation within his strength that made it falter. She seemed absolutely stoic, just… **watching**. Sweat protruded off Clayton's happy-born face. He turned around and immediately threw the jacket into Jaune's face, smacking him down again as soon as he got back up, "URK! OH COME ON!" Jaune complains as he dug out more clothes to start the shelter's own war of cloths-throwing projectiles.

Clayton's smile grew more attuned into the childish fight, as he found himself smiling more than he ever would've back then. His silver-ringed irises glance to Alice, as even she was having fun indulging herself into something like this, to see her smile again after so long… without realizing it, his eyes were beginning to tear away from his eyes' corners, each watery essence trickling down his face and eventually being slid off his face to let drop in the air. If this is what it meant to have friends like this… then he'd do anything to make him and the people he loves happy…

Sin sat within the center of it all, watching the articles fly over her head or barely miss her, taking clothes that fell next to her and began folding them back into their former states to set them back down onto the ground next to her. They were quickly taken by either Jaune, Pyrrha, Clayton or Alice as soon as she put it down. With no reaction gained from such thing, she had done the most typical and effective thing she found productive.

**Folding the clothes; rinse and repeat.**

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><p>Evening had come by quickly and the two members of JNPR with their allying AI stood outside the shelter; the two kids stood just next to the entrance of their home. Both were smiling, but also wiping away the tears that came trecking down their face. The blonde and red-head's hands place upon their shoulders, Pyrrha's hand on Alice's, Jaune's hand on Clayton's. "We'll come back, so don't worry about missing us." Jaune grinned to the child reassuringly. Pyrrha nodded in concurment to her leader, "We promise." They simultaneously stand straight and holding out their fists to the younger kids, as the kids took their last sniff and held out their own, bumping fists with the teens, "I-I'll wait..! Anytime, any day..! I—no, we—will definently surprise you with something that we can make now!" Clayton prided with Alice by his side, their hands intertwined together.<p>

Jaune chuckled, wiping his finger against the corner of his eye as he strifled his own sniff, lowering his head to hide his 'uncool emotion'. With a thumbs up, he turned around with his two other accomplices and walked down the sidewalk, waving back to them, "You'll see me soon… I promise you that." The blonde muttered with a grin.

Pyrrha's hand found way onto her partner's shoulder, making Jaune turn his head to her and see the smile she kept on her lips. He smiled back with a nod, stopping at the airship docks as the next ship had cue'd to come in. By the time the hatch opened, the others that were also taking the same ride climbed aboard. Sin placed her hand onto his left arm, which the phone was attached to by a band strap. Slowly, her digitalization portions began to sink into the phone, leaving Pyrrha to stare in shock at Jaune, "S-she just—"

"Yep."

"A-and…"

"Yeah."

"W-who—"

"Mhm. New teammate of ours, I'll explain later, Pyrrha." He stifles a chuckle and walked into the ship with the most satisified grin across his face. With the four-time champion noticing this, she punched him in the shoulder lightly.

It takes only a second for the ship to start moving… and at the same time, it triggered Jaune's motion sickness. He stumbled over to a trashcan, breaking his record of reaching it in less than three minutes! Pyrrha rubbed his back caringly, trying to sooth out his unnerved system that causes him to vomit. "T-thanks… Pyrrha." She sighed, a bare hint of a laugh embedded in it.

"It's not a problem—"

Before she made a finishing tone to her sentence; a bullhead came zipping by the side of the airship. Another soon followed in behind it. Jaune's motion sickness was set aside for the curiousity piquing in his head, as him and Pyrrha stand next to the window and gaze out to notice the dozens of other bullheads beginning to retreat from the Academy. Raising the arm that his phone was mounted to, an 8-bit Sin had appeared on the screen, "What's going on? Why are there this many bullheads going out at this time?"

"…" There was the suspensing moment that caused the AI to try and conclude an answer to as a series of info boards splashed the screen,

"Jaune… Miss Nikos… please look back to the city."

As they turned…

The city of Vale's bordering walls of territory had been set alight.

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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**. To memory .**

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><p><strong>I hope I didn't take too long for updates, and after reading the reviews, I'm really happy that everyone's found interest in the story… however, it must come to our attention that we still have someone to honor in memory for the base foundation of a story like mine. To Masseffect-TxS; I thank you for your review on behalf of the passing. Sincerely.<strong>

**I will strive to become a better writer to satisfy what you want most, and I am willing to receive critical responses to try and improve my story and plot as it goes on. Again, with pride and determination, can't stop until we've reached what we've wanted.**

**I'm just some penguin that's willing to fly.**

**fanfictionPenguin, aborting thread. Quack.**

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><p><strong>[ Next Update ]<strong>

**_"_****_FALLCRY"_**


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